Page 5 of Grumpy Girl and Amaryllis

He shrugs his shoulders.

Speechless for a moment, I recover, and sigh. “I’m so sorry, Croix. Thank you for your service and your sacrifice.”

To compromise his hearing that’s a huge loss, and even a sincere thank you, I feel, will never be enough.

He winks and smiles at me. “Thanks. I have a degree in math. I wanted to go into middle school, but this job opened, and I needed to escape the big city. The lights and constant sirens were too jarring, and I wanted to slow down life. Make some changes.”

Watching him brush aside the explanation so easily is an attractive trait. He was given a significant life-altering change, and here he is rolling with it. Does it come with issues? Sure. But he’s making the best of the change to his plans.

He continues, “I enjoy this simple life in Everville. Never thought I would end up in a place like this.” His gaze lands on me, and he stares me straight in the eye. “So grateful that I have.”

My mind spins, and my leg starts shaking out a nervous beat under the table.

“How about you? Why are you a… dirty hoe?” he winks, and I swear he has a star in that eye the way it catches the light and sparkles.

But I still laugh. Hearing people say the name cracks me up. Not one person can say it the first few times without pausing and then slightly speaking the actual name quieter.

“That name.” Shaking my head, I say, “It’s both a blessing and a curse.”

Croix leans back in his chair. “Your sister picked it out?”

I grin wide. Everybody assumes that. “Nope. I did. Let’s just say that it was a big fuck you to my ex. He cheated on me, and I thought it was tongue-in-cheek.”

Croix’s easygoing manner stiffens a little once I mentioned my ex cheated.

“You were calling him out for his behavior?”

“Maybe,” I say coyly.

In my mind, I’m screaming out a resounding yes.

That infectious, boisterous laugh of his comes again. “I think I like you, Mari. That’s great.”

Slowly, Croix reaches across the table and holds my hands. The look in his eye says he’s looking for something more than friendship. My heart and head have a war inside of me. Logic and feeling taking upper hands like a Slinky going down steps.

“You’re a baby,” I state softly.

He sits up from his seat and leans across the table. He kisses me next to my lips, softly, a brushing of just the corner of my mouth. A damn tease he is. And again the zings start zapping me to life.

It takes every bit of self-control not to lick my lips and sigh at the touch.

He moves in closer and kisses under my ear, and whispers, “I’m no baby, Mari. I know what I want, and I want you.”

My heart sputters, and my panties dampen.

Maybe my parts don’t need oiled as much as I thought they did.

Croix

Dinner is going betterthan expected, and I don’t want it to end. I looked into events around town, and I picked this restaurant because it’s within walking distance of a walk-thru lights festival.

I read that this show is put up every year after Thanksgiving, and I can’t think of a better person than Mari to share it with.

Who knows? This may become a tradition of ours.

She rubs her hands. I stop, and I take my gloves off. “Here, give me your hands.”

Without questions, she lifts them, and I put my gloves on her.

---