Page 54 of Hang the Moon
For one dizzying moment, that sunbeam of warmth inside her chest returned and expanded, flaring hot and bright as Brendon stared at her, a soft smile playing at the edges of his mouth. A mouth she wanted so desperately to kiss.
Almost as desperately as she wished what he’d said was true.
But how could it be?
Friday. Saturday. Sunday. Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday. Six days. Annie had been in town for less than a week. How could Brendon care about her if he barely knew her?
Dating equals disappointment. Lots of strings. Tangled, messy strings.
She dropped her hands from his solid torso and crossed her arms against a sudden chill. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
***
The sun had just barely slipped below the horizon when Brendon’s GPS told him to turn on the narrow road ahead.
Annie hunched forward in her seat, elbows resting on her knees. “Wheel-In Motor Movie. Wait. Is this a drive-in?”
His tires bounced along the gravel as he slowed to a crawl. “One of only four left in the state.”
They were in Port Townsend, two hours northwest of Seattle.His original plan had been to take Annie on a picnic near his apartment where they showed movies in the park during the summer months, a date reminiscent ofThe Wedding Planner, but the chance of rain in the forecast had caused the park association to cancel. Luckily, he had a backup plan, one he liked even better than the original.
Drive-ins were, by default, romantic. Plus, this plan allowed him to show Annie a little more of the state than if he had simply taken her to a park, managing to kill two birds with one stone.
“How does this even work?” she asked after he paid for their tickets at the booth located halfway up the gravel drive. “Don’t we need speakers or something?”
“We just have to set the radio to the FM channel on the ticket.” He parked in the center of the lot, a perfect distance from the dark screen. “Movie starts at dusk.” He unhooked his seat belt. “Want something from concessions?”
Her answer was immediate and enthusiastic. “Popcorn, please.”
They were relatively early, and the line outside the concession stand was short, moving fast.
Annie popped his door for him when he returned, arms laden with buckets of popcorn and an assortment of candy.
“I got extra,” he said. “Just in case.”
“What are we watching?” she asked, one hand already buried in her bucket of popcorn.
He grinned. “Say Anything.”
“Confession? I’ve never seen it.”
That was unacceptable, a wrong he was glad to right immediately. “The boom box, Annie. John Cusack and the boom box playing ‘In Your Eyes’ by Peter Gabriel. Classic.”
“Eh.” She wrinkled her nose. “I know it’s supposed to be all iconic and everything, but it always seemed... stalkerish to me.”
“Stalker—no.No.It’s romantic. He plays the song they listened to the night they first...” He wet his lips, brows rising suggestively. “You know.”
She snorted. “Ah,soromantic. Here, let me stand outside your window playing the song we first banged to. You’re right. Not stalkerish in the least.”
When she put it like that, he winced. “All right. Maybe it hasn’t aged well, but—”
“Chill.” Annie smiled. “Plenty of my favorite movies haven’t aged well. Maybe I just need to watch it before I pass judgment.”
His shoulders dropped in relief that this night wasn’t a bust before it had really begun. “It’s set in Seattle, you know.”
She swallowed her mouthful of popcorn. “Yeah?”
“Tons of the best movies are. Sleepless in Seattle,10 Things I Hate About You—”
