Page 49 of Take It Till You Make It
“What kind of wedding would you have?” I ask.
His mouth flops.
“Ah huh! You were being sexist by assuming I’ve planned out my wedding because I’m a girl.”
I see his cheeks redden. “Yeah, you totally caught me in that one. It’s just that I’ve had a lot of girls write to me about what our future wedding will be like, so…yeah…I fell right into that one.”
“Oh my gosh. Have you really?”
“Yeah. I mean, our future weddings, our future children, where we’ll live. There are a lot of people out there who plan waaaay ahead.”
I chuckle but also cringe. “I never thought about that end of the rabid fan spectrum. That seems kind of creepy.”
“It wasn’t too bad before artificial intelligence.” He glances at me and makes a face. “Now I get illustrations to go along with these big plans. Some of the kids…oof.”
I let my head fall against the headrest. “Oh no! Maybe I’ll rethink this career. At least I wouldn’t inspire such devotion in my fan base. They enjoy that I make them laugh, but they don’t want to marry me.”
When he looks at me, his gaze skims me like he’s cataloging all my best features. “Give it time, Ari. You’ll be having little AI babies soon too.”
I shudder. “No, please, no!”
We pull into the parking lot of a strip mall. The far end of the lot is packed with cars, but the rest is empty. Crispin parks with the masses and we climb out of the car.
I frown. “I don’t even see a restaurant.”
He laughs. “It’s at the end of the pier.”
“Oh, that makes sense.”
A boardwalk splattered with sand and footprints takes us to the pier, which stretches far out over the ocean. The tide is out, so there are people with buckets wandering the shoreline, digging for clams on the wet sand. The scents of briny water and rotting fish tease my nose occasionally. Neither is especially strong but they make me wrinkle my nose in displeasure until I’m more used to them.
The farther out on the pier we walk, the more the wind picks up. I pull my hood over my hair to keep it out of my face and stuff my hands into the pockets of my hoodie, which I’m thankful I grabbed. Vocal seagulls land on the pier, the railing, and the backs of benches, eyeing us to see if we have any food to steal. The bark of sea lions grows louder as we approach the restaurant.
“What are they looking at?” I point to people gathered around openings in the pier, leaning as far over the railings as they can.
“The sea lions.”
I can’t help myself. I run to the nearest opening and squeeze into a small space between two women. Far below, there are dozens of sea lions lazing about. The sea lions overlap one another like a basket of kittens, rolling and climbing on each other to find the perfect spot. Crispin comes up behind me and leans over my shoulder to look down. I point to a sea lion sitting alone on a dock, barking the loudest. “He’s huge!”
“Yeah, I’d say he’s in charge down there.”
I laugh and bite my lip as I watch the antics. A sea lion inches to the edge of her dock and dives in a fluid arch face-first into the water.
“Wow, they’re so awkward on land, but such graceful swimmers.”
The woman next to me steps aside, and Crispin shifts forward, leaning an arm on the rail. His body is only inches from mine, and the warmth he provides chases the chill of the wind away. I fight the urge to lean against him.
“That little harbor seal is enjoying the show too.” He points to a cute little round head bobbing in the water.
“I can’t believe how loud these things are.”
“They never stop either. Very chatty creatures.”
I snap a couple pictures to share with Mom. I’ll have to bring her out here when she’s stronger. She’d love this. “Are they here during the day too?”
“They’re always here. I mean, probably not the exact same ones, but this is definitely a popular place for them to hang out.”
I straighten and smile over my shoulder at him. He’s still leaning forward to see over the rail, so his face is inches from mine. My smile falters, and my eyes drop to his lips. Suddenly, I’m thankful for the incessant wind. It’s cooling the heat that just ignited within me.
