Page 37 of Fierce-Gabe

So much for the coziness of his truck. That would be asking way too much though.

They climbed on a picnic table and sat down, both of them eating.

The silence was getting to him, but he didn’t think it was to her.

“You’re antsy,” she said. “Why?”

“I’m not used to the quiet when I’m not alone,” he said honestly.

“I’m not normally one for small talk,” she said as she ate.

“I suppose I should be happy we aren’t biting each other’s heads off. Oh, wait. That’s not me, that is you.”

She grinned and went back to her food, took a bite, then chewed and swallowed. “I’d call that a truce.”

“It is.”

Another minute went by. “Can I ask what this is really about?” she asked.

“I honestly don’t know,” he said.

“I think you do,” she said. “You just don’t want to tell me.”

“You say it like it is, don’t you?”

“I’m not changing for anyone.”

He got the feeling she’d been told more than once that wasn’t a good trait. But didn’t he tell himself he liked that trait on her?

“You shouldn’t either,” he said. “But maybe if I say what I’m thinking you’ll jump up and take off on a run to your SUV.”

“Now you know I’ve got to know,” she said.

He took a deep breath. “Let’s say I wish we’d had a chance back then and didn’t get it. We are older and more mature now. At least I am.”

She laughed. “Both older. I’ll let the mature comment slide.”

“Thanks for that. What do you say? Maybe this was a date?”

She choked on her bite of food. Yeah, showing his cards way too fast.

“Seriously?”

“You know, we never had one before. If I had asked ahead of time would you have said yes?”

“No,” she said.

“There is that honesty. Then I guess this worked out right.”

“Let me think about it,” she said.

“That’s better than no,” he said.

Five minutes later, her tacos were gone. His too.

“Thanks for lunch,” she said. She stood up.

Before she could walk away, he said, “So we just wait for another chance meeting? How long do you need to think about things?”

---