Page 7 of Rescuing Alix

“Nah, I’m okay. Just going over everything in my head.”

“Oh, is this about the little hottie across the street.” Kody felt his face get hot. Since when did anything embarrass him?

“Yeah, Alix. She’s pretty special. I really like her a lot.”

“I can see that. You’ve never gone this nuts about a girl before.”

“Yeah it’s weird isn’t it? I’m not sure what it is, I just can’t help it. She just consumes me.”

“Oh dude, you are in so much trouble.” His friend was shaking his head as he walked away.

“Hey, get back here, what does that mean?”

Chapter Six

It was closing time at the Sand Bucket and Alix had already pushed Chloe out the door a little early so she could lock up by herself. The clean-up hour after they closed was a welcome break when they were swamped throughout the day. It allowed her to get rid of whatever stress the day had caused. She hated going home in a bundle of nerves. Today however, her bundle of nerves would probably stick around since she was having her first date with Kody. It was only ice cream, nothing major but being in such proximity with him for any length of time and she won’t be calm the rest of the night.

There was just something about him, it made her crazy. Each time she’d been close enough, her nose caught an unbelievable aroma. Probably sweat from him working out in the heat all day or maybe smoke from the fires had permeated his skin but whatever the scent, it made her hormones jump through the ceiling. She’d never felt so disheveled about a guy before. It was kind of confusing.

Speaking of Kody, it was odd how she could sense him before she even turned toward the door. She could tell he was close and when she heard the bell ring, she tried to be light-hearted however she was anything but. Her nerves were taking over.

“Hi Kody.”

“Hey Alix, you changed clothes?”

“Oh yeah, I spilled meatball sauce on me after you left. I didn’t want to smell it all night. I always keep a change of clothes in the back office.” Boy but he was observant.

“Are you ready for some ice cream?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be. I didn’t eat today so I’d have room for it”

“You didn’t eat? You’re gonna blow away woman.”

“Now don’t you start on me Kody, I am perfectly healthy and normal weight for my age and height.”

Who does he think he is to scold me on what I should and shouldn’t eat?

Kody held up his hands in mock surrender when he knew he’d been out of line.

“Okay, okay I give, I’m sorry. You’re an adult, and a pretty fine one at that. I’m no mother. I’ll stop.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that. I usually do eat, so don’t worry. Ice cream isn’t really on my daily meal plan though and sometimes I get tired of the food we serve.”

“Yeah I didn’t really think about that. I bet it does get old day after day.”

“Sometimes, but I just make myself something that’s not on the menu when I need a change.”

“Well maybe you can cook something for me sometime.” Then Kody motioned down the sidewalk toward the ice cream shop with a swing of his arm and a grin wide enough to skin a cat.

***

While walking along the beach, Kody and Alix talked about anything and everything while they tried to finish their cones before they melted. Who knew they had so much in common and they’d laughed so hard when Kody dropped his cone in the sand. After a while they stopped to relax on a park bench. The discussion covered pretty much every inch of their childhood memories, surprised at the things they had in common. He was from south Texas while she was from the north and had both been raised on cattle ranches. They sympathized equally about being only children as well.

Her parents were still working full time and living in the house she’d grown up in but Kody’s father passed away a few years ago, and his mother moved to Florida to be with her sister. He said it’d been almost a year since he saw her.

“You should probably try to get over there to visit sometime, I bet she misses you.”

“Yeah, I really need to. Work has been so crazy but maybe I’ll make a point to take some time off soon.”

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