Page 66 of The Write Stuff

“Oh, don’t worry.” She shook her head. “I don’t like sushi either. I might try to shock you with a restaurant, though. You’d better prepare yourself.”

“I’m prepared for all of it,” I assured her. “Every last moment.”

Her smile widened, and I knew I meant it. I was ready for this, finally.

18

EIGHTEEN

I’d never been happier in my life.

Okay, happy and nervous at the same time.

Just being in proximity with Huxley was enough to get my heart pounding.

He’d gone out of his way for the date. Date, outing, whatever he wanted to call it.

He was obviously trying hard. I didn’t know what to make of it. I wanted to believe everything he was saying, and I didn’t for a second think that he was lying to me. I just didn’t know if he could follow through.

What if he only thought he was attracted to me?

What if he was attracted to me, but it was only lust? Those feelings could change easily.

What if he was only doing this because he’d picked up on the fact that I’d been crushing on him again, hard, and didn’t want to disappoint me?

What if all of this was going to go away in two weeks? Would he want to go back to being friends? Would he want to go back to not knowing me?

I didn’t want to think about any of those possibilities, but there were niggling doubts in the back of my brain even as we sat together in the hearse and listened to the tour guide, who claimed his name was Jason Myers. He was energetic, and I had no doubt the ghost stories he was telling us were probably legitimate stories. He was adding a surreal edge to each one, however.

Huxley sat close to me and kept a firm hold on my hand as we listened. I had questions, of course. I always had questions. Huxley seemed interested in my questions, however, and never once shot them down. In fact, he almost always branched out from my questions with questions of his own.

It felt great not to have him telling me that it didn’t matter or lamenting the fact that I asked a question at all. He seemed to want to hear every little thought that crossed my busy brain. Nobody had ever acted that way with me before, and I was both charmed and worried.

Could he keep this up? It was addicting to have somebody ask my opinion on something and actually listen to the answer, and not because he wanted to get into my pants. Although given how tactile Huxley was being, it was pretty obvious he wanted to get into my pants. He didn’t push things beyond hand-holding and back rubs for the tour — we hadn’t even kissed yet — but the anticipation was already building.

After the tour, I decided to test his dedication and pointed him toward Treylor Park - Hitch. It was a gastropub that was known for serving some of the most eclectic dishes in the city. Just think PB&J wings and chicken pancake tacos.

Huxley was gung-ho for the experience, however.

“This is … interesting,” he mused as he sat across from me and took in the environment. In his Star Trek phaser shirt, he fit right in with the crowd. I still didn’t know how comfortable he would be in this environment. I wanted to see for myself.

“It’s one of my favorite places,” I said. “Obviously, I haven’t been able to visit every restaurant since I moved here. That’s on my bucket list, though.”

“You want to visit every restaurant in Savannah?” Huxley’s eyebrows moved toward one another. “Do you think that’s feasible?”

“Probably not. Maybe it’s more like I should put together a list of the 100 restaurants I want to visit in town and do that.”

“I’m all for that.” He grinned. “Come up with your list. We’ll do it together.”

I wanted to ask if he thought he would make it through the list, but I didn’t. We’d had a wonderful date so far, and it wasn’t all that late. We still had time together. I didn’t want to bring the mood of our date down. Instead, I took a conversational detour.

“So, Treylor Park was founded about 12 years ago by a guy with the actual name Trey and a friend of his,” I started. “It was popular right out of the gate and grew into a weird vibe that people love. They even have a Treylor Park Beach Party location, along with this place.”

“It’s got a very weird menu,” he mused. “I want to try a few different things.”

“Are you sure?” I studied his face closely. “If this isn’t what you want …”

He didn’t sigh with frustration because I was worried. He didn’t bark at me to let it go. He just smiled. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”