Page 52 of Sugarplum Dreams
She wasn’t exactly sure, but whatever the effort was for, she appreciated it.
“Don’t you want to guess?” he asked, grinning at her as though they shared a silent joke. Banks was in the stage where he wanted people to guess everything, whether it was what he was doing next, or what he had already done, or how his day was, the standard answer was “guess!”
“I really have no idea. I mean, it has to be somewhere within a day’s ride, because we have to make it back today. Your mom didn’t bring an overnight bag.”
“You’re right about that. We’re not going more than half a day’s ride away.”
“And I’m guessing that we’re going to eat, since we skipped out on breakfast and I’m starving and you have to be practically dying, because you fed the cows and haven’t had anything to eat since you got up.”
“You’re right. I’m pretty hungry.” He shot her a grin but then put his eyes right back on the road.
“And we’re going down the mountain, so it’s something that is in this direction.”
“That’s correct. I’m not trying to confuse you by taking the long way.”
“All right. But beyond that, I really have no idea. An auction?”
“Would you enjoy that?” he asked, sounding surprised.
“If I’m with you,” she said easily, remembering how much it had meant to her when he had said that he wanted to be with her.
Her words made him smile. “Try again.”
“Out to eat?”
“We’re going to eat. But we’re going to do something else.”
“Man, I don’t know. I’d say a riverboat cruise, but I don’t think there are any riverboat cruises around here, and I’m honestly not sure they’re even a thing.”
“I think it might be a thing, but you’re right. If they’re around here, I’ve never heard of them. But that’s close.”
“Is it close enough for you to tell me?”
“Really? You don’t want it to be a surprise?”
“I want to look forward to it! That’s part of the fun.”
“All right. I have tickets for the Blue Ridge train tour. They’re going to feed us, take us for a ride, and I think as they’re turning the train around, there’s a lookout with a great view and information about the Virginia Railway or something like that.”
“Wow. I’ve never even heard of that. But hey, if I get food, it sounds fun.”
“It sounded good. I read the reviews, to make sure that people weren’t complaining about it, because I know how much you love it when someone else feeds you. It would be pretty disappointing if the food ended up not being very good.”
“I appreciate that,” she said, feeling happy that he had remembered something that meant so much to her.
“It seems like your business is going really well, but you haven’t talked about it lately, so I figured I’d ask.”
“It’s going great. I have orders almost every day. And I guess I haven’t mentioned it because I know that you weren’t completely all for it, and I wasn’t quite sure what the issue was.”
“You know, I wasn’t quite sure what my issue was, either. I just don’t allow it to bother me. I never did figure it out for the most part.”
He didn’t look away from the road, and she felt like he was telling her something that maybe he was a little bit ashamed of or embarrassed about.
“Okay?” she asked, waiting.
“I was jealous.”
“Jealous?” she asked, shocked and trying to make sense of his answer.
