Immediately apologetic,Jon dropped his duffel bag on the bed behind me and sighed into the room. “Notlike the hotels you stayed in with your grandma, I bet,” he said, and at theinsult to himself, I turned around.
“What do you mean?”
He shrugged, stuffedhis hands in his pockets, and walked slowly toward me, keeping his eyes on thefloor. “I just meant you probably stayed in some really nice rooms when youtraveled with her, and this hasgottabe adowngrade.”
“Jon …” I shook my headand looked over my shoulder, toward the Sound and the moon. “My grandma and Iwere very close, and I was very lucky growing up to have her, but she was alsomygrandma.This… this is the nicest thing anyguyhas ever done for me.”
“You must’ve dated somelousy guys.” He stood next to me, staring out over smoke-stacked rooftops andtoward the water. “Wow, this is actually beautiful.”
I shrugged in responseto his former statement. “I, uh … I never did a whole lot of dating, to behonest.”
“No?”
“Nah. Not for lack ofinterest or anything. I just never found anybody worth being serious about.”
“So, no psychoex-boyfriends or anything?” He turned to look at me, eyebrow raised andsmirking.
“Nope.” I laughed,crossing my arms. “A couple of ex-boyfriends, but we split amicably, and neverspoke again. Like I said, I never found anybody worth much. Well, until—"
“Until you met thebroke, depressed widower with three kids.” He laughed, shaking his head. “Whata catch.”
“Oh, shut up,” Iteased, rolling my eyes. “You are.Trustme.”
“Sure.” He nodded,feigning his skepticism. “And when we tell people how we met, you can say, ‘Oh,it’s the cutest thing. He was so deep in his grief that hisbrotherhad to con me into babysittinghis kids. Isn’t that just thesweetest?’”
“Okay. It’s not exactlya meet-cute, but it got us here, didn’t it?”
He narrowed his eyes,confusion masking his face. “What the heck is ameet-cute?”
I pursed my lips toconsider my answer before saying, “Well, it’s like, you know how Meg Ryan andTom Hanks meet inYou’ve Got Mail?It’s funny, charming, andkindaquirky, but it leadsto them having this really swoony relationship?”
“Uh-huh.”
I shrugged and nodded.“That’sa meet-cute.”
When I looked up to hisface, I found the sweetest, most wistful smile spread across his lips. His headcocked to the side, just staring at me. When I asked what he was looking at, hechuckled and let his smile widen even further.
“I was just thinking …”He chuckled again. “Because when I first met you, I thought you looked a lotlike Meg Ryan fromYou’ve Got Mail.Except, you know,” he touched my arm and ran his fingers lightly over one of mytattoos, “a little more decorated.”
“Well, you looknothinglike Tom Hanks, let me assureyou,” I laughed, returning the smile. “You’re better looking.”
“I’m just a regularguy,” Jon muttered. “Honestly, you’re way out of my league. I don’t even knowwhat you see in me, but … I’m notgonnaquestion it.”
I laughed again,grabbing his hand and tugging him toward the bed. “Well, I think you’readorable, and I think this bed is probably just as good as one in a five-star—”
He wrinkled his nose.“Please don’t say that. We both know that’s not true.”
Sighing, I flopped downon the pillows, soft blankets, and comfortable mattress and said, “Feels prettydamn good to me.”
“You’re just tired,” hereasoned, eyeing me skeptically.
“So are you,” I pointedout, and grudgingly, he laid down beside me and groaned. Giggling, I said, “See?”
“Yeah, okay, this feels… pretty good. If I just … closed my eyes …” Then, he was silent, a steadystream of breath pulling in and out of his partially open lips. I rolled overto find that his eyes were in fact closed, and he had in fact fallen asleepthat easily. Or at the very least dozed off.
Laying a hand over mymouth, I whispered a hushed, “Aww,” and gently climbed off the bed. I wasn’tquite tired enough to fall asleep that quickly, so I thought I would get a bitof writing done to relax. I grabbed mylaptop, andsatbeside him on the bed.
Then he stirred andopened his eyes. I stifled my giggle at the shocked expression painted on hisface and said, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
