We were having the dinner Dani suggested, except Dani was working, so it was me and Alex with Shay and Jackson. Dani easily rivaled me with her tendency to work all the time. With her fiancé, Wade, on call as a first responder tonight, he had passed on dinner as well.
Alex shrugged affably. He was an easygoing guy and didn’t mind being hugged by a stranger.
Shay was Remy’s little sister. We’d gone to high school together, and Remy had been a few years ahead of us. Shay was engaged to Jackson Stone now. As far as I could tell, they were ridiculously in love. Like the fairy tale kind of love.
“You must be Jackson,” Alex said after Shay stepped back from hugging him.
Jackson threw his head back with a laugh, and they gave each other a backslapping hug. “Remy’s one of my best buddies. You can tell him that hug was for him.”
Alex grinned. “You got it, man.” He glanced around the lodge restaurant. “Nice place here. Remy told me you own it.”
“Let’s get a table,” Jackson said, gesturing for us to follow him.
I’d been to this restaurant before but not often because it wasn’t cheap. Seeing as Jackson did own it, we had a great table by the windows looking out over the valley. The sun was setting, casting the smoky blue over the mountains with shades of silver and lavender.
“My sister and I inherited the farm from our parents,” Jackson began once we were seated. “It hasn’t been a working farm for a while, and my dad started up an animal rescue before he passed away. We’ve got a vet clinic in the rescue over in the original part of the farm. This barn is for the guests, and we have lodging upstairs.”
“Y’all have made an amazing place,” I said, meaning every word.
“Thanks, Delilah,” Jackson said, dipping his head in a nod. “We’re proud of it.”
“The Lost Deer owners sure love it. They get to send their wine and beer over here,” I replied, referring to the owners of the bar where I worked.
“It’s a mutually beneficial relationship,” Jackson offered.
A waiter came by, and Dani waved as she hurried by at one point. We had a relaxing dinner, and I actually enjoyed it. I was so busy that I rarely had extra time to socialize with friends. I saw Shay at the bar when she came by, along with most of my friends, but I was always working.
“How’ve you been, Delilah?” Shay said as dinner moved along, her green eyes twinkling with her smile. “Seems like that Alaska trip turned out to be a boon.”
I felt my cheeks go pink, and I shrugged. Shay cast a quick look in Alex’s direction, but he was busy talking to Jackson about his job as an airplane mechanic.
“He seems nice,” she said, keeping her voice low.
“He really is,” I said, meaning it down to my bones.
Having Alex at my side was such a small thing, but it was a strange experience for me. I didn’t date. I just didn’t count on thinking anyone would want to go the long haul with me. More accurately, I didn’t want to let myself count on anyone or anything. Especially not a man.
“He flew all the way here for you, so he must like you.”
My cheeks got hotter. Shay smiled. “I just want you to be happy.”
Jackson asked her something then, and she let the topic drop.
It was another night that ended with me tangled up with Alex. That man was magic, and I was going to deeply miss falling asleep wrapped in his arms.
Chapter Eighteen
Delilah
“Do you want to meet my parents?”
Alex was chewing on a bite of a bagel, and he nodded while he continued chewing.
“I’m not sure it can happen since you’re leaving tomorrow, but if you visit again, I’ll make sure to try to introduce you.” I didn’t say the silent part out loud—that I hadn’t even attempted to coordinate a way for him to meet them. Although I felt a sting of shame about that, it wasn’t as if I saw my parents on a weekly basis. Maybe once a month or so. Alex was gracious enough to let it rest. Whether he spoke it aloud, I sensed he understood how touchy the topic of my parents was and didn’t push. That rankled slightly because it only illuminated how much he understood me. That was what terrified me.
Nobody ever wanted to meet my parents. But then I’d never really dated anyone long enough that they might ask. It wasn’t as if Alex and I were dating, though. We were having these strange interludes that didn’t feel like my real life. Except this interlude sort of did.
Alex was here. In my world. He worked in Asheville while I bounced between my shifts at the bar and cramming in my nursing school classes at night. He was even gracious about that. He would watch TV and put my legs over his lap while I tapped away on my laptop.
I loved it. Too often, I caught myself imagining us being a real couple. That was freaking crazy. Having experienced disappointment and disruption too many times in my childhood, I’d learned to set the bar of expectations low.
It would be enough just to have a stable income and an apartment I liked. It would be enough to be able to make my own decisions about where I lived and what I did. It would be enough to stay single even if I wanted more because then I didn’t have to worry about anyone ever letting me down. It would be amazing not to live in a household with an alcoholic.
Almost every day, I caught myself wanting to tell Alex about my father being sick and dying. For reasons I didn’t understand, not even a little, I struggled to tell him. It seemed so personal.
Um, getting naked with him and having wildly intimate sex every night is pretty personal. My snide and always ready to be critical voice chimed in.
Tonight was our last night together before Alex flew back to Alaska. I hated how much I was going to miss him. Now, it was going to be worse than before. I had a taste of him in my daily life, and I loved every minute of it.
“Could you practice being just a little bit of an asshole?” I asked.
Alex looked over from where he was changing the channel on the television. My calves rested on his lap. He was absentmindedly rubbing one of my feet, which he did often. Considering that being a bartender meant I spent hours on my feet, it was a special slice of heaven.
“Practice being an asshole?” One of his dark brows rose in a slash.
“Yeah, like leaving a towel on the floor or leaving your dishes on the coffee table.” I gestured toward the empty plate currently sitting there. I knew he would carry it into the kitchen, rinse it, and put it in the dishwasher the next time he got up from the couch. We’d gotten takeout tonight from a Thai place in Asheville. Or rather, Alex had picked it up and brought it home. He knew I had one of my online classes tonight, and he hadn’t even complained about that even though it was his last night here.
“Come to think of it, you could complain that I had a class tonight.” I closed my laptop and shifted it onto the coffee table.
“School is important to you. I knew I’d be eating and relaxing and packing, so that’s what I did. No biggie,” he said easily.
He studied me quietly, getting that piercing look in his eyes that he had sometimes. It made me want to squirm a little bit. A part of me savored how well Alex seemed to understand me. Another part of me, a pretty loud and opinionated part of me, wanted to run for my life when I felt his understanding.