“I have sandwiches for dinner. If I had known?—”
He reached out with a grabbing motion. “Did Bonnie make them?” I pulled out the first sandwich. “Yup!” He snatched the crinkly plastic wrapped Coffee Pot. I’d never understand the obsession with Maine’s trademark sandwich. It didn’t seem to matter as he took his first bite.
I pulled out my sandwich to see Bonnie had scribbled on it with a marker. “Adorable Man-Friend.” It seemed Gladys had gotten around to spilling the beans. I could foresee plenty of remarks from the rest of the town. The pies being delivered would come with unsolicited advice. It’d startwith casual questions, and before long, they’d be planning our wedding. Firefly demanded a happily ever after.
“Don’t tell anybody, but Bonnie adds mayo to the sandwich.”
“You rebel, you.”
I didn’t know they were intended to be eaten without condiments. I unwrapped the cellophane and inspected the innards. Meat. Cheese. Onions. Green Peppers. Pickles. I scooted against the wall before taking a bite, wondering if I’d experience the same magic. Mayo shot out the back, splattering across my jeans.
“Excited to see me?” he asked with a snort.
I let out a deep breath. The Olsen curse refused to let up. I grabbed napkins from my backpack and wiped off my jeans. Now, it looked like a wet spot. “Apparently, you have that effect on me.”
I took another bite of my sandwich. Not bad, but I’d have to live vicariously through Tyler as he moaned between bites.
He reached into his bag and produced a flask. “Rum.” He took a sip and handed it to me. I didn’t question him, taking a quick swig. We might as well have been teenagers again, stealing booze from whichever parent forgot to lock their liquor cabinet.
“Why here?” Other than his job and love of books, I knew almost nothing about Tyler. I hardly knew him when we were seventeen.
He finished his chewing before pointing to the mountains. “You can’t beat this view.”
Nope, I wasn’t letting him get away with a shallow reply. If we were going to bridge the gap from stranger to friend, I needed to understand him, at least a little. This is where I struggled. Sex… that was easy. Intimacy… not my forte.
“You can see the mountains everywhere. Why this spot?”
I almost retracted the question as he looked down at the sandwich in his lap. The fun-loving grin faded as he trudged through a painful memory. I had seen a similar expression staring at me in the mirror for years.
“I built it with my dad.”
“Oh.” Oh? I needed to work on my small talk. “Do you hunt?”
He shook his head. “He tried to teach me. I’ve polished more than a few guns in my day.” Armed robbery. It had to be an armed robbery. “He grew up hunting with his dad. He wanted it to be our thing.”
“As I’m a newly appointed expert in all things Tyler,” I said. “I don’t take you for the hunting type?”
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m a crack shot with a rifle.” I wonder if he and Laurel had gone toe-to-toe, showing off their skills. “But killing things isn’t exactly exciting. I’d much rather sit down with a book. Less noise.”
“How’d he take it?”
“You know. Disappointed. At least at first.” I didn’t quite know how to talk about parents without making it weird. Every time the conversation came up, once it came out that myfolks died, the conversation turned awkward. “We had a year or two where he tried to get me interested in things he liked. Changing the oil in my car, no problem. I know how to put up drywall. I can shoot a gun. But he knew none of it excited me.”
I liked to imagine my parents would have continued pushing me toward my passions. Maybe if Mom were still around, she’d remind me that being content isn’t the same as really living—and that I’ve played it safe long enough. While they might be gone, I had the luxury of imagining them as these perfect people who always supported me.
“Then, one day, he asked me to come with him. I was confused because we were coming to the treehouse, but he didn’t have his rifle. When we got up here, he didn’t say a word. I could swear he found out I was sneaking out at night.” Tyler gave a slight chuckle at the memory. He set his sandwich in his lap. “Then he pulled out a book and started reading.”
I had to smile at his dad’s efforts. To think he set aside his upbringing and found his son’s passion made me stifle a breath. This was a side of Tyler I hadn't expected. Something about his honesty made him even more endearing.
“Of course, I had my book. We sat up here and read. That’s it. Then he told me all about the private eye in his book. He asked me about the elves in mine and why they hated dwarves.”
“That’s sweet.”
My hand rested on the floorboards. I could feel his finger creeping over mine. I pulled away for a moment. Hiseyes darted downward until I covered his hand, giving it a tight squeeze.
“Why here?” He repeated my question before glancing at me from the corner of his eye. “I think of it as a place for reconnecting.”
My heart heaved in my chest. I had wanted him to open up, but the thoughtfulness of his intent was enough to make me gasp. Okay, with that level of vulnerability, I’d move this to one of the best dates. It certainly beat those encounters over coffee where I scouted for the exits.
