Page 84 of As They Are
“I’ve got it,” I said. “Don’t worry about paying.”
I still hadn’t figured out how to repay him for doing all of this. A meal was but a drop in the bucket, but it was a start.
“No, I’ll cover it.” His voice was firm. “I’d be a bad boyfriend if I didn’t.”
“Don’t tell me you think the guy has to pay for everything.”
“I don’t think that.Ijust want to do it foryou.”
My stomach flipped. The few dates I had been on, they took one look at me and decided that I could pay for my own food. It went against everything I needed to do to pay him back, but I wanted this.
“The classic ‘who will pay’ discussion,” Tammy said with a laugh. “How about this? It’s on me.”
Both of us turned to her at the same time.
“Tammy,” I said, shaking my head, “you can’t cover everything.”
“We ate, and we need to pay.”
“Oh,nowyou’re on the same side.” She rolled her eyes. “I just thought about it while you two were arguing. I don’t know why I even bothered with bringing it. I got my diner on TV. I’m good with you two having free food.”
“But—” Both of us said it at the same time.
“I’m walking away now,” she said as she snatched the check off the table. “You better leave before I kick you out!”
Henry sighed. “Shewillactually kick us out.”
“Fine.” I stood. “But I would have paid.”
“No, you wouldn’t have.” He said it like a fact, and I wondered if there was a future where we would be eating together again.
“Don’t underestimate how stubborn I am.”
“Oh, I’m not. But I also have a feeling you’d listen if someone told you to do something the right way.”
I paused, body warming at his words. I didn’t think of myself as a good order-taker, but there’d been a few times, particularly when I was in the abandoned library, where he’d firmly told me not to do something, and I hadn’t.
Maybehewas the key.
But Henry was already backpedaling. “I just meant ... I mean?—”
“So, the farmers market,” I said, deciding not to push it any further. He already looked like he’d started to regret every word he’d said. “Any tips as a resident of the town?”
“I don’t usually go to it, so I’m as new as you are.”
“So, we’re winging it.”
“That’s not my favorite way of doing things.”
I laughed and tugged him along.
I found Mollie on the far side of the square from the diner. She looked radiant in the sun and was talking to people animatedly.
I waited patiently for her to be done before I slammed my hand on the table and said, “I need all of the jam you have.”
“Well, you’re in luck. I have two left.”
“Two?”I asked with a gasp. Sure enough, her table was nearly empty. “You’re killing it!”
