Page 51 of Dyana
“I never slept with any of them. They tried, but I couldn’t have sex with anyone who wasn’t you.”
His comment, which should have been sweet, struck a chord, and I found myself pulling away from him.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Jack said, stopping and refusing to let me pull away. “I didn’t mean it like that. That wasn’t a criticism of you.”
“Yeah, but I—“
“Did exactly what you needed to do to fucking survive. So we could find each other again.” He tipped my chin up to meet his eyes. “Never be ashamed of that, Doll. I’m not. I’m fucking proud of you. Got it?”
I nodded as I blinked back tears. I’ve cried more times since Jack, Bryce, and Evan came into my life than I cried all the years before. After studying my face to make sure I understood, we continued walking again. At this rate, it would be lunchtime by the time we got to town.
“Do you know,” Jack laughed, “that the only reason we were in the Quad every Monday morning was so that I could see you?”
“No, it wasn’t,” I said in disbelief.
“It was! Ask the guys,” Jack laughed. “I needed to start my week seeing you. Even if you didn’t acknowledge me, I needed to get my fix.” That was just too fricking sweet for words. Unsure of how to respond and feeling wholly inadequate, I just shook my head and stayed quiet.
We arrived in town sooner than I had expected, given our frequent stops. As we crossed the bridge, my initial unease about coming into town returned, and I couldn’t shake the feeling we were being watched. “So you said you hadn’t seen that car or anyone else in town since we caught the chickens?” I asked, shooting for casual conversation. The look Jack gave me told me I had failed.
“We can go back if you aren’t comfortable.”
“No, not after you planned a whole date. It’s fine. My nerves are getting the better of me. Seeing an unknown car in town spooked me more than I realized. I’m sure it will fade the longer we’re here. Besides,” I teased, nudging him with my shoulder, “if we leave, I won’t get my surprise.”
“It’s not that big of a surprise,” Jack hedged, looking nervous.
“Whatever it is, I’m sure I’ll love it,” I assured him. “Now, where to first?”
“I thought we could check out the record store. See if there is anything there worth saving,” Jack suggested.
“Yes! That’s a great idea. The one thing missing from our lives is music. Cora has some records, but they were her dad’s, and while I respect the oldies and enjoy some of them, most are not to my taste. There are oldies, and then there is whatever that mountain music is.”
Jack chuckled. “You never did develop a taste for country music.” It was true. Nothing made me want to stab out my eardrums more than the twang of a banjo.
We found a nice record player and a bunch of records that we’d all enjoy. Music was definitely one of the things we tookfor granted before the apocalypse happened. Now, the idea of listening to some of these songs, many of which held core memories, nearly made me giddy.
“You hungry?” Jack asked as we left the record store with our treasures.
“I wouldn’t be opposed to eating.”
“Then I know just the place.” I followed Jack to the park and assumed he had packed a picnic lunch for us. It was so much more than that. “Jack!” I gasped as we approached the gazebo.
“Do you like it?” he asked, sounding nervous.
This was what Jack had been doing in town yesterday. He had come down to decorate the gazebo in preparation for our date. There were flowers everywhere. Strings of them hung from the ceiling. He’d covered the railings in lattice with the blooms as well. In the center of the gazebo was what I could only describe as a nest of blankets and pillows with a little table for us to eat off.
“No,” I replied in wonder at the sweet and simple gesture. “I love it. Did you scour the entire town for everything?”
“Pretty much,” Jack replied, grabbing my hand and leading me into the gazebo. He led me to one side of the table to sit and then sat on the other. “Believe it or not, the flowers weren’t the hardest to collect. It was the blankets and pillows. Everything had been sitting around for so long, and finding ones that weren’t filthy was a challenge. Getting the dust out of the passable ones was a project in itself.”
“Well, I appreciate the effort. I love it,” I replied as Jack unpacked the food he’d brought. He pulled out fresh fruit, hard-boiled eggs, some jerky, and the last of the rosemary bread I baked earlier in the week. By apocalypse standards, it was a meal fit for a Queen.
“The park, this spot, they’re special to us. So, I thought if I was going to take you on a date, we had to come here.”
I laughed as I picked at the food. “Do you remember our first date?”
“Of course,” Jack chuckled. “Dinner at the diner and then a movie. I was so fucking nervous the entire night.”
“Oh, I know. I was, too, until I saw how nervous you were. It was so cute and instantly put me at ease.” I took a bite of a strawberry and moaned at the flavor. Strawberries didn’t taste like this from the stores.
