“Oh, great.” I laugh. “She’s a romantic. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since her entire line of work is offering support to married couples so they can work out their problems.” I push the plate back to him. “Sorry, I’m eating all your food.” I glance over my shoulder, looking for the waitress. “I’ll order my own plate.”
“I already ordered you something. Should be out in a second.” My eyes flip to him as he pushes the plate back my direction. “We’ll share both plates.”
The handsome smile on his face melts me inside out. Where did this guy come from? And how does he manage to make me feel special every day?
He cuts a corner of the waffle and holds the bite in front of my mouth, feeding it to me. “So I have a question. What are you doing on the Fourth of July?”
“Umm.” I chew enough to answer. “Not working, I’ll tell you that much.”
“Good.” His smile is big and animated. “Because I wanted to invite you to Prescott with my family. My parents have a cabin,and we always spend the Fourth of July there to escape the heat. And I want you to come with me.”
My laugh is sharp, startled. “With your family?”
“Yeah.” He watches me closely. “All of them.”
I shake my head immediately. “Hess, no. That’s a terrible idea. I don’t want to drag your family into this mess—your mom, especially. She’d get way too attached to the idea of us, which isn’t good since our marriage isn’t even real.”
His lips spread into the most charming smile I’ve seen from him. “I want you to come with me.”
I shake my head again.
“Camila,pleasecome with me.”
My heart bangs but not with fear. Each beat begs me to say yes.
“Okay,” I relent, “but your family needs to know that this isn’t a real marriage.”
“They already do.”
The waitress cuts between us with a hot plate of food. “I’ve got one all-star special for my favorite customer.” She sets the plate down and winks at Hess before leaving.
I watch the whole spectacle with a gaping mouth. “It never ceases to amaze me how blatantly she flirts with you right in front of me.”
“I think she’s just being nice.”
“You always think that, but I know women, and I know she’s flirting with you.”
The corner of his mouth lifts. “Are you jealous?”
Crazy jealous!
“No.” I play it cool. “I just think it’s weird she doesn’t even try to tone it down when I’m with you. I’d hate to see how it is when I’m not here.” I lean forward, letting the smell of the food fill me up. “I’m starving.”
“I figured you would be.”
“Yeah, it was such a crazy day. I had planned to leave the office and run some errands during my lunch break, but I didn’t have time. In fact, after this, I have to stop by my condo and grab my long-acting back-up insulin because I’m out, and I didn’t get a chance to stop by the pharmacy before it closed.”
“No need. I picked up your prescription.” He lifts a white paper bag from the booth seat and sets it on the table. “I saw the sticky note reminder you put on the fridge to pick up your insulin, and I had some extra time, so I grabbed it for you.”
My eyes narrow in on him. “You’re too good to be true.” I glance around. “Like, are there hidden cameras somewhere? Is this a social experiment happening to me right now?”
“What?” Hess laughs with brows raised. “Because I picked up your prescription?”
“No, because you keep showing up for me without me even having to ask. It just seems too good to be true.” Like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop or for his mistress to appear.
“Could it be that this is just what people do? They take care of each other. They’re a team. When one needs help, the other picks up the slack.” He shrugs. “I’m just picking up the slack for you. I know you’d do the same for me.”
Would I? I feel like I’m not the type of person to notice his needs and just do them without him asking. But with him, his thoughtfulness continues to knock me off my feet.
