Page 57 of Right Place, Right Time (Second Chances)
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Kate
The restaurant and dinner are lovely, as is the company. Jay has gone through so much to make tonight perfect for me—for us—that I can’t bear to tell him I’ve been here several times before. Who does he think made the recommendation to Decker and Casey in the first place? No, I won’t tell him that. The evening had already gotten off with a rocky start due to me and my big mouth.
I order something I haven’t had before, a rich risotto dish, and Jay chooses cannelloni. Judging by the way we’re both silent during the meal, I’m guessing his food is as excellent as mine. We share tiramisu for desert with the recommended dessert wine, and I smile as Jay groans when I lick my fork clean.
After dinner, we hold hands walking through the streets of San Francisco. I tell him about my favorite places to visit, restaurants, and dessert shops. We pause along the railing at the edge of the bay and look up at the massive Golden Gate Bridge. It’s a sight that never fails to awe me.
“You ever been up there?” Jay asks, tipping his chin to the bridge.
“Dozens of times,” I smile, reflecting over walking and biking the bridge my freshman year of college. “It was one of the first places I visited when I arrived in California.”
“I don’t know why they call it ‘The Golden Gate Bridge.’ It’s orange,” he says.
“It’s named for the Golden Gate Strait, not the color,” I laugh.
He seems to consider this, then looks down at me with a smirk. “Smarty pants.” I giggle, then shiver, running my hands up and down my arms. Jay looks at me with concern. “Why didn’t you tell me you were cold?”
“I didn’t feel it until just now. It’s probably the breeze from the bay.”
He puts his arm around my shoulder and pulls me into his side, his body warmth immediately pouring out onto me. “Come on, let’s head back to the car.”
“But I’m having so much fun,” I whine.
“We’ll have more fun at home, trust me.”
This time when I shiver, it has nothing to do with the temperature.
***
After returning my car to the parking lot at my apartment, we go straight to Jay’s bike and ride over to his place. I’ve been staying there so often lately that I’ve taken over one of the drawers of his small dresser. If it freaks him out, he hasn’t said. For someone who had been so uncomfortable with the idea of me even seeing where he lives, he sure seems happy to have me in his space these days. I’d told him he had nothing to worry about.
I pull a pair of pajamas out ofmydrawer and head to the bathroom to change, but Jay stops me in my tracks. He pulls the clothes out of my hands and sets them on the dresser behind me, then he takes a step back and his eyes take me in from head to toe. My skin prickles, as if it can feel his gaze.
He reaches out a hand and runs his fingertip under the strap of my sundress. “You know what I thought about when I first saw you tonight?”
I shake my head in response…not because I don’t know, but because I want to hear him say it. I want to hear him tell me that day meant as much to him as it did to me. So much so that he remembers what I’d been wearing. You don’t remember those kind of details if the event hadn’t been impactful.
“I thought about the first moment I saw you, standing on the side of the road. You were wearing a dress just like this…same color and everything. Same kind of shoes, too. You looked so beautiful, but so frustrated.”
I laugh. I was so frustrated. Stupid car. “Itisthe same dress,” I tell him and his eyes, filled with heat, widen.
“I thought so, but I couldn’t be sure. You kept it?”
“Same shoes, too,” I whisper.
He looks down to my feet and a small smile appears on his face. “You got the smudge off?”
My heart flutters. He remembers the smudge on my shoe? I hadn’t realized he noticed, but I’m beginning to realize that Jay notices everything.
“They’re my favorite sandals,” I shrug. “I couldn’t part with the dress. That entire day was so crazy…so random. It felt like magic.”
“Magic?” he asks, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
“Yeah…” I say, trailing off. How do I explain it to him without sounding like a complete fool? “My whole life, everything has always been so planned. Everything has been so…scientific. Everything made sense and nothing was left to chance. Everything that happened the day you and I met went against the grain. It had to have been magic.”
He smiles indulgently at me, placing his hands on my hips. “I guess I can’t argue with that.” He leans in so his mouth is right beside my ear and whispers, “Want to know what I was thinking when I saw you that day?”
