Page 59 of Anatomy of a Meet Cute
“Well, I hadn’t thought murdery when I got in the car, but now I’m nervous,” Sam said, half laughing as they drove down Sixteenth toward the freeway underpass.
“Don’t be. I think you are going to like this.”
For a while, they drove in the sort of silence that Sam liked. The kind that meant you were comfortable enough to just be still with someone and that they felt the same about you. Again, Sam thought about their first meeting and how odd it was to be simultaneously so comfortable and so nervous around someone. Part of her wondered if the butterflies would ever go away. The other part wanted to bottle the thrill so she could feel like she was near him even when he wasn’t around.
As they approached the Mission, Grant began to look for parking. Scanning the streets, he said, “Do you want to talk about Dr.Franklin at all?”
“Not really. But I know I shouldn’t have gotten vexed with him. I can see where he thought he was being helpful. After all, it’s not like I chose a lab-based research question that required tracking down funding for data. I could fail at this and never be employable as a clinician again. Not to mention damage the hospital’s reputation.”
“I wouldn’t say timing and delivery are his strong suits. He can be harsh, but he does want the best for his fellow staff and his patients underneath all that grumbling.” Throwing the car in park, Grant turned to unbuckle his seat belt, adding, “We have that in common. It’s probably why Dr.Franklin and I get along.”
“You aren’t that rude,” Sam said, surreptitiously watching the smile lines on either side of Grant’s mouth as she unbuckled her seat belt.
“You don’t need to lie. I’ll still give you ice cream,” Grant laughed as he pushed the driver’s side door open and got out of the car.
“I’m not lying. You’re prickly, but not like that,” Sam called as she slid out of the passenger side and walked around to the back of the car.
“I have one word for you.” Grant shook his head, his expression self-deprecating as he said, “Plane.”
A beat went by as the two of them just looked at each other, and then they both burst into the kind of graceless laughter that made passersby either wish they were in on the joke or give them extra space on the sidewalk. Grant had doubled over, holding on to the hatch on the trunk to keep himself semiupright, while Sam leaned against the taillight, both of them letting their howls ring out over the sounds of shoppers and traffic.
Finally, Grant managed to pull himself together. Taking two deep breaths, he said, “I really think it was the guy’s brocade jacket that did me in. What was he wearing, and why was he wearing it so early?”
“It was the man bun for me. Okay, that and the fact that we had to play twenty-one questions just to get to the fact that he was tripping balls on mushrooms,” Sam said, putting a hand to her forehead in an effort to stop laughing, which of course failed as soon as she and Grant looked at each other.
Eventually, Grant straightened up again. Looking at the sinking sun, he said, “We should get going. Just promise me you’ll give Dr.Franklin one more chance.” Quirking one side of his full lips, he said, “I mean, you got to know me, and I’m not that bad.”
“Jury’s still out,” Sam teased, leaning away from the bumper so that Grant could use the sensor to open the trunk. “I think it depends on what we are doing.”
“You’ll find out in like seven minutes.” Pointing to a fuzzy-looking navy-blue blanket in the back of the car, he said, “Can you grab that? I need to run inside the Bi-Rite real quick.”
“A blanket?” Sam said, whipping her head away from the trunk and back to Grant, who was already making his way toward the store. “You said no murder.”
“No bodies, no murder. Promise. Just wait there,” he called, then dashed through the store’s front door, leaving Sam to watch the trunk close with the potential murder blanket held to her chest.
“What do we need you for?” Sam quietly asked the blanket as she waited outside the store. She was fairly certain doctors couldn’t eat weed brownies and get the munchies without risking getting their licenses revoked. Even in San Francisco that seemed like the sort of thing that would be strongly frowned upon.
“Ready?” Grant asked, walking out of the store and bouncing on the balls of his feet. The brown paper bag he was holding had the edges stapled shut so she couldn’t see what was inside.
“Are you really not going to show me what’s in the bag either?” Sam asked, enjoying the excitement radiating off him.
“You already know there is ice cream in here.” Grant shrugged and started walking toward the park.
“Yes, but I don’t know what flavor,” Sam said, nudging him slightly with her shoulder.
“Give me about one hundred yards, and you’ll find out.” Whatever he had planned, he looked extremely pleased with himself.
Sam opened her mouth to try a different angle as they rounded the corner onto Dolores Street, then stopped. There, at the top of the hill, was a massive screen surrounded by people sitting on blankets just like the one she was carrying.
“Movies in the park?” Her voice sounded more like a whisper as she tried to take everything in. Not two weeks ago she’d mentioned this, and he’d remembered it. Not just remembered it. He’d done it for her. Just like the ice cream or asking questions about her mom’s party. Something in her chest squeezed as she looked from him to the park and back.
“Yes. More specifically,A Goofy Movie. They don’t really do adult-only movies at this kind of thing.” Realizing that she was a few paces behind him, Grant stopped and turned to face her, his expression shifting from excitement to apprehension as he watched her. “Is this okay?”
“You pulled together a movie night in the park because Dr.Franklin wasn’t nice to me?” Sam felt her lips form the words as her brain tried to process the realization.
Grant shifted uncomfortably and ran a hand down the back of his head. “I mean, I just looked up the show times. And I didn’t do it because Dr.Franklin was mean, per se ... I just knew you wanted to go, and—”
“Wait, so you drove around with a blanket in your car and a plan in your head just in case I had a bad day?”
