Page 12 of Up In Flames
“Is that a firefighter thing? Calling everyone by their last name?”
Will grinned at me and when he stood, I followed. We dumped our bowls in a trashcan. Shoving my hands in my pockets, I stuck to Will’s side as he led me to an ice cream truck.
“I’d never thought of it before, but I think so. I’ve been Dorsey since my first day, and all the introductions were done with last names. Sometimes I forget their given names, so don’t quiz me on them. Don’t you lawyers have any weird habits that are exclusive to lawyers?”
“You mean besides ritual sacrifice and blood magic? Not really.”
I hadn’t thought it was that funny, but a laugh ripped out of Will, and he bumped his shoulder into mine as we waited for the line at the ice cream to move.
“You’re a funny guy.”
“Thanks. All of us at the office take turns with the sense of humor. Today was my turn.”
Will laughed again, and this time he put his hand on my shoulder, giving it a squeeze. My body tingled from the contact. How long had it been since I’d been touched so casually? Will hadn’t minded it when I fell apart at the cafe, and the longer I hung around him, the more I began to suspect that he was just a tactile person.
“What flavor do you want?” Will asked as the line inched forward.
“I’m a simple guy. Chocolate is fine.”
“Simple is good.” Will shot me a smile and fished a couple of bills out of his wallet. He passed them over to the personcollecting donations and ordered two bowls of chocolate ice cream.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that the pistachio ice cream is amazing, but I can’t bring myself to eat something that looks radioactive.”
“Chocolate is a classic. It’s comfort food.”
“I bet you make your own ice cream.” I glanced at Will and saw him duck his head a little. “Oh, my God. You do, don’t you?”
“Not all the time. And not many flavors. But I have made it before. Sutton’s brother gave me a crash course at the creamery.”
“That’s so cool.” I scooped up a spoonful and ate it while I rolled the idea of Will making ice cream around in my head. “It must be nice to have a hobby like that where there’s always something new to learn. I haven’t had a hobby since I decided to be a lawyer.”
“It’s never too late, you know.”
“I wouldn’t know what to do. I’m not artistic or creative. I can draw a mean stick person. And last time I did karaoke, my friends paid me to stop. Although I was pretty loaded.”
“You don’t have to be good at something to enjoy doing it.”
“Says the man who is probably good at everything he tries.”
“I’d love a chance to prove you wrong. I can be bad at things.”
“So competitive, Dorsey.” Using his last name sent a little thrill through me. I hadn’t even meant to, but it seemed to fit the conversation. My mood was lighter today than it had been in months. Maybe even since before the accident.
“We’ll have to find something neither one of us has done before so I can prove it to you.”
“I’ve never met someone so eager to prove to someone else that they suck.”
“I’ll go to great lengths to prove a point.”
Maybe it was fate that the face painting tent appeared when we turned a corner. Or maybe Will had been steering me there all along. On a normal day, I definitely would not have even let the thought cross my mind but today wasn’t a normal day. Today was the first day in forever that I’d been outside and noticed the sun on my skin and how alive I felt when the wind blew.
“What are you doing?” Will asked as I stepped into line behind a few little kids.
“Getting my face painted. What do you think? Tiger? Lion? Spiderman?”
“Butterfly. Purple with glitter.”
One of the stations cleared out a few minutes later. Will took my empty ice cream bowl for me and milled around waiting while I got my face painted. The lady doing it seemed amused to have an adult sit in her chair, but she didn’t make fun of me. Not even when I told her what I wanted.
