Page 46 of My Grumpy Sweetheart
Oh yeah, and he was still a talker, too. And an over-sharer. Nothing about that had changed since last year – and I was still as irritated and weirdly charmed by his antics as ever. More than that, I loved him for the way he was so unabashedly himself.
“We’ll see,” I said, shrugging. Honestly? I couldn’t care less if we attended any classes at all or if we spent the whole weekend holed up in our room, picking apples or walking Crispin. I still didn’t understand why we desperately needed to visit the exact same orchard on our one-year anniversary. There were a thousand other orchards in our state alone, and on our way here we passed at least a dozen. “Remind me again: why did we need to book a room at the same orchard as last time?”
Bailey rolled his eyes at me, his smile still firmly in place. “Because it’s romantic.Duh.” His face softened a little. “I know you don’t care, but that weekend changed so much for me — well, for us, really — and I just want to celebrate it where it all started. Look at it this way: at least this year you are here voluntarily and haven’t been sold off by your best friends.”
Huffing out a laugh, I shook my head. “I don’t think they’ll ever do anything like that again.”
“They better not. You’re off the market.”
Raising my eyebrows, I shot Bailey a meaningful look because he knew damn well that I’d meant something else. “Two words: glitter bomb.”
Bailey cocked his head, his big blue eyes looking at me with complete innocence. “Is it two words? Or is glitterbomb one word? No, I think you’re right. Two words.”
“Bailey. That’s not the point I’m trying to make.”
Blinking, he bit his lip, playing the whole innocence-thing up, but I knew he was full of shit. “I have no idea what you’re hinting at. And even if I had the inkling of an idea what you mean, I just want to remark that glitter isn’t really that bad. There are pages online that let you send dog shit to someone. Oh, and elephant poop.”
“So you want to tell me my friends should be glad you didn’t send them shit instead?” I snorted. “Please, I want to hear you tell them that.”
Bailey giggled. “You just have to give things a positive spin. You should try it one day. It certainly worked on you.”
Nodding along, I bit my lip to keep myself from smiling. These days, I did a lot more of that. I still wasn’t considered a happy person by any means, but there were a lot more reasons to smile in my life. Namely, my boyfriend and my dog. Said dog was sleeping peacefully in his crate, snoring loud enough to be heard over the music.
“Wait… did you just say you manipulated me into agreeing to this weekend trip?”
Bailey just smiled — and shoved another handful of chips into his mouth, crunching away. “Well,” he said, taking a big gulp of soda, “first, manipulating sounds incredibly negative. I highlighted positive aspects. For example, that we’d be able to stop at that burger place you love so much —twice.” Shaking the almost empty paper cup fromthat burger place I loved so muchthat was once filled to the brim with diet coke, he giggled. “And I made good on that promise.”
I groaned, rubbing a hand over my head. He’d played me. The little shit had really played me. But for some weird reason, I wasn’t annoyed. Amused, yeah. And there was the warmth in my chest that spread through my whole body whenever Bailey did something to trick me into stuff I didn’t want to do but would ultimately end up liking.
Just like this trip.
I just had to bitch about it sometimes.
“Oh, look, there are the first meadows!” He excitedly pointed at yet another meadow filled with row after row of apple trees. I had to admit, the colors were pretty. Everything was different shades of green and the apples were such a bright red that they almost looked like they were glowing in the afternoon sun. “Do you think they’re Crispins?”
“What?” I raised my eyebrows and shot him a glare. I had fuckingknownthat there was something behind that weird-ass name list of his. I just hadn’t been able to figure out what. And then he’d never brought it up. “What did you do?”
“I might’ve thought it’d be cute if you named your dog after an apple variety.” Looking over his shoulder, a font smile spread on Bailey’s face as he looked at my — well, officially my, but in reality it was definitely our — dog. He tucked a strand of his golden hair behind his ear and beamed at me. “So, I might’ve googled apple varieties and printed out a list with options.”
“You mean to tell me you didn’t really want me to call my dogSpartan?”
He laughed freely, the sound sending a tingling sensation down my spine. “Oh god, no! Honestly? It was just a funny idea, and I hadn’t expected you to go for any of the options. I definitely thought you’d realize what I was doing since I suggestedGranny SmithorPink Lady —for a male puppy.”
I groaned, internally facepalming myself. Because no, in that moment ten months ago, I hadn’t realized what he was doing. “I thought it was weird.”
But weird tended to be Bailey’s normal. There wasn’t much that could still faze me.Always expect the unexpectedwas kind of the motto of this relationship.
“So Crispin is named after an apple variety.”
“Maaaybeeeee.” Bailey giggled. “Okay, no. Definitely. But you love his name.”
I really did.
So, I just gave him a half smile and shrugged. “It’s not bad.”
It was better than not bad.
“Yeah. Oh, look. There, that’s definitely one of their meadows!” Jumping up and down in his seat, Bailey pointed at a meadow that definitely belonged to the orchard. How I knew that? There was a big-ass sign sayingAlcott’s Apple Orchardright in front of it. And there was a colorful mix of people picking apples in the background. Great, they already had their first activity going on.
