Page 18 of Just Is Not Enough

“You’re something else, Mr. Stonewood, you know that?”

“Eww, don’t call me that. Sounds too serious to be coming from you. Hard pass.” Aiming to continue breaking down that wall he built up earlier, I stay with the humorous approach. “I’d rather you stick to something more flattering, like Big Guy or Stud Muffin. Oh wait, how about Snugglebug? I’m an expert at snuggling. Yep, I like that one. Let’s go with that.”

Kaden’s shoulders visibly shake as he fights to contain his laughter. His smile is slowly becoming my new favorite thing in the world, and I love being the one to draw it out of him.

Mia shows up with our wine and takes our orders. Kaden ordering his steak medium-rare makes me overcome with joy. The man knows how to eat a steak. If he had said well-done, I’d have no choice but to walk out of the restaurant, my head hanging in shame.

We’re alone once again, steadily watching each other grinning from ear-to-ear.

“Tell me something I don’t know about you,” I ask him.

“What do you want to know, Luke?”

“Everything.” I’m not going to get what I want all at once, so I make the effort to be practical, “but let’s start with your favorite childhood memory.”

“That’s easy. Sunday dinner and game nights,” Kaden says with no hesitation.

“Tell me more.”

“When my mom was a kid, my grandparents worked a lot. They weren’t the sit down at the table and eat dinner every night type of family. When my mom had my sister and I, she decided she didn’t want that for us. I was about five years old when it was mandatory to have a sit-down dinner with all four of us. Of course, there were times when one of my parents had to work late or whatnot. But they did their best to make sure it was an almost every night occurrence.”

“And I suppose that morphed into Sunday dinner and game night at some point?” I question, more than curious.

“Yeah, once we got older, we started having social lives and wanted to hang out with our friends all the time. Typical teenage stuff. My parents agreed to a deviation, on one condition, we make it Sunday dinner and game nights every weekend. Lanie and I agreed, reluctantly because of the board games part of the deal. After the first few games my dad introduced us to on those nights, it became our favorite part of the week. Spending time laughing and of course shit talking about who’s going to win the games, turned out to be a lot of fun.”

“Sounds like you all are close. When did your parents let you out of the deal?”

“I’ll let you know when they do,” Kaden chuckles at his jest.

“Really? You both still go to your parents’ house every Sunday for dinner and play board games?”

“Every Sunday. We love it, honestly. My parents are really fun to hang out with. Is that weird to say?” He shyly smiles, lowering his head like that’s embarrassing to admit.

“Not at all. You’re pretty lucky. Some people wish they had that kind of relationship with their family. You should be proud.”

Raising his head again, his eyes meet mine as I nod in assurance.

I’m one of those people.

I want to tell him but now is not the time to dump all my family baggage on him. I don’t want to scare him off before we even get a chance to get to know each other better.

“Your turn. Favorite childhood memory?” Kaden asks before I can get another question for him out. I have many.

“A few weeks after I turned 10 years old, and my Aunt Brenda was in the kitchen cooking dinner for a couple of her friends coming over that night. She was making fried chicken and mashed potatoes. I always liked watching her cook. It seemed…peaceful. She’d never let me help until then, worried I would make too much of a mess. She asked me to help season the breading mixture for the chicken, because seasoning the buttermilk was not enough, she always said, then she handed me the masher for the potatoes.” I smile, remembering how she faked her hands hurting so she had an excuse to ask me to mash the potatoes. “At the dinner table, she gave all the credit to me when everyone said the food was delicious. I think that’s the moment I fell in love with cooking. People enjoying something you created. I guess you could say my aunt letting me feel useful turned out to be the start of my career. I dove headfirst into watching every cooking show I could find, helping both my aunts with dinner the nights I spent with them. Cooking consumed my every waking thought, still does.” I pause, then reconsider. “Well, every waking thought until recently, that is.” I gesture towards him with an open hand to signify my statement.

“Unapologetically, straightforward as ever, huh?” Kaden shakes his head with a smile.

“I’m not one for subtlety. I don’t have time in my life for nonsense,” I say with sincerity. I’m still not sure how a little over a month ago I was ready to die on the ‘I don’t want to be in a relationship’ hill, but now here I am willingly running down said hill, directly towards Kaden.

Chapter Fifteen

I Wasn’t Really Hungry Anyway

Kaden

WhenIthinkIhave a grasp on who Luke is, he presents a different side of himself. All afternoon he’s been playful and flirty, now he’s casting the same determination he had in his eyes the night we met my way. That night I figured it was rejection laced in his stare. It isn’t this time. I stare back, unable to form words.

Mia conveniently arrives with our food, giving me a chance to focus on something else besides the thunderous hammering in my ribcage.

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