Page 97 of Chosen Road

Inside the bag were two large shoeboxes. I laughed. “Did you buy me comfy shoes?”

“I hope so. Alex assured me that these are great choices.”

I opened the smaller box first. “Oh my gosh! These are like winter slippers!”

He grimaced, then chuckled. “They are. They’re horrible but I hope you like them.”

I tried them on and immediately loved them. “They’re perfect! Thank you!”

“Open the other box,” he demanded.

Inside were boots, the kind I’d seen everyone and their dog wearing, with three different styles of cuffs to wear over top. “Oh! I’ve never tried these! They’re so expensive I never really considered them.”

I slipped my feet inside and stood up. “Oh, yes, Gus!” I breathed. “These are perfect.”

“Good. Wear these tonight instead of the furry slippers, I beg you.”

I laughed as he helped me on with my coat, then he led me out to the car, his hand firm at the small of my back, exactly where it should be.

“Where are we going?”

“Food, books, coffee. How does that sound?”

“Perfect.”

I wore my new boots, which I had to admit were tons more comfortable than flip-flops in the cold. “I love them, Gus,” I said, looking down at my boots. “Thank you.”

“Make sure you tell Alex. He’s very proud of our finds.”

“He’s so sweet, Gus. We did good with him.”

He reached for my hand across the seat of the car and tucked it under his, resting both our hands on his thigh. “We did, but let’s focus on us tonight. Okay?”

After a few false starts, conversation flowed easily as we talked about his work, rock-climbing, the new gym, my clients, my plan for file sharing and review, and Ruby’s crazy life.

We ended the evening at the coffee shop where we began.

He picked up my hand across the table. “I fell in love with you that day.”

I guffawed. “I was so mad that day.”

He smiled and stroked his thumb over my wrist. “I know. Full of fire. It was your laugh, though, that slayed me.”

He drained his coffee and stood up, offering me his hand.

Once in the car, he turned to head home.

“Gus,” I asked hesitantly. Was I going too fast? Was this weird? I was ready to move ahead, maybe he wasn’t?

“Yes, beautiful?” He flicked the indicator to turn left.

“Um, do you want to go to the condo?”

His head snapped around to face me for a moment then he flicked the indicator to turn right and took the turn.

Tension replaced the relaxed, happy vibe and neither of us spoke. He intertwined his fingers through mine, brought my hand to his mouth to kiss the back of it, then placed my palm over his thigh.

His muscles flexed and bunched under my hand as he drove. His jaw tightened when I squeezed his thigh, and I pressed my own together tightly.

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