“At the end of September?”
“You said whatever I wanted.”
We stepped out of the building to where the straight streets turned into wind tunnels. “I know a good place.”
“It won’t be busy, right?” Not wanting today to be ruined was on the top of my list. Needing to call Holden to be extricated from an overwhelming situation wasn’t my idea of fun. Plus, the last time there had been an underestimation in a crowd situation outside of an appearance I’d been doing, two teens had ended up almost getting trampled. They’d been fine, but the fear of me or, even worse, someone else being hurt because of me weighed heavily on this day of reckless fun.
A muscle in his jaw twitched. “No, it won’t be.”
A trill of excitement rushed through me. We were doing this.
I covered our interlaced fingers with my other hand and kept my head down and burrowed into his side. My gaze darted around behind my sunglasses. Even with them on I felt exposed. I couldn’t let the panic snatch away today.
He extracted his hand from mine and slid his arm around my shoulder, holding me close.
My nerves calmed, less frayed and more frazzled. The grip on his sweater under his jacket was less of a clutch and more of a hold by the time we got to the nearly deserted ice cream shop.
The ice cream shop was small, almost food-truck-sized with two ordering windows. The second was closed with an arrow pointing to the other with a metal screen over it that the ice cream store worker slid open. It was a quiet location near a park, probably a prime spot during the warmer months, but now there weren’t many visitors.
There were three metal picnic tables off the sidewalk in front of the walk-up window. Two people sat at one, finishing up their treats.
Against my side, Keyton’s chest rumbled.
Jerking back, I looked up at him.
He and the ice cream worker looked at me expectantly. “Sorry, what did you say?”
“What kind of ice cream are you getting?”
I licked my lips. “Coffee.”
His hand settled against the small of my back. “That’s it. Coffee ice cream in a cup. No cone?”
Stalling, I tried not to be mesmerized by how good he looked in his black wool coat. It wasn’t the scratchy kind, but the smooth, buttery kind you wanted to rub against like a cat—or maybe that was just me. “What are you getting?”
“Today calls for a sundae.” He leaned against the metal shelf in front of the window, bending to speak to the woman on the other side of the opening. He glanced back at me. “I’ll take the Cookie Chaos with chocolate jimmies.”
My face must’ve shown I had no idea what the hell he was talking about.
He laughed. “They get a little testy around here if you call them sprinkles.”
“Right, jimmies.” It felt surreal being here with him. Just going out to get ice cream like we did this every day.
He’d led the way with an easy air. I didn’t know whether he always wore it, or he was putting it on for me. Either way, it helped a little.
“Are you sticking with a scoop of coffee ice cream in a cup or do you want to change your order?” He leaned in. His warm breath skated along my skin sending a shudder down my spine as I breathed him in. “Their hot fudge looks good.”
Staring at him, it took a wide smile and gentle tap on my hand to remember why we were there in the first place.
“Coffee ice cream…” He started, his lips quirking.
“Right, sorry.” I leaned back from the window, looking up at the menu above. “I’ll take the two-scoop hot fudge sundae in a waffle bowl with coffee ice cream, peanuts, Reese’s cups, and rainbow jimmies.” Seeing his eyes filled with amusement and encouragement, some of my nervousness thawed. “And whipped cream and a cherry.”
The woman in the pink Berries and Cream t-shirt over the long sleeved shirt nodded and closed the window before getting to work assembling our sugar bombs in a cup.
I couldn’t have been more excited, my mouth already watering.
“Can I have a taste?” He took my hands in his.
Staring into his eyes full of playfulness and barely contained desire, I wanted to start the day all over to redo the hours already gone. The afternoon had approached too fast and all I kept thinking about was how short it all felt.
“Only if I can have some of yours.”
He brushed his thumb across my cheek. “Of course.”
Stepping out of the way, we let another group of people in to place their orders.
There were no suspicious glances or extra attention focused on us. People shot a few quick looks at Keyton, but no one approached us.
It was the first time I’d felt normal in a long time, and it was refreshing and scary at the same time. A chance to be me with someone who had known me before my first name became internationally recognizable.
This was the kind of day we could have if I were an accountant by day and songwriter by night. Maybe I’d be playing in local coffee shops, or, better yet, hanging out in a studio way past a responsible adult’s bedtime, tweaking a music track until it hummed with an artistic electricity.
“Do you think we can actually pull this off today?”
“Of course we can. If we can’t, I’ll handle it and get you back to my place. We can order in and watch TV.” He said it as though he’d have no problems plowing through throngs of people like opposing players to get me to safety.
And I believed him.
More of my nervousness slid away with the certainty of his words. “That doesn’t sound terrible.”
“Only if our day out doesn’t work. What else do you want to do?”
“It’s probably not somewhere you want to go.”
“I’ll follow you anywhere.” A ring of conviction radiated from his words, like a power chord on an amp cranked all the way up. It didn’t feel like he only meant today.
Instead of latching onto his words and giving them more meaning than he’d intended, I opened my mouth.
The window slid open and two cups with a mountain of sugary sweet goodness slid toward us. “One Cookie Chaos and one coffee hot fudge sundae.”
We walked over to the empty tables. The chilly metal seat numbed my butt in five seconds flat, but I dug into the ice cream, letting the hot fudge and peanut combo warm my insides while my outsides froze.
From across the table, his legs settled on the outside of mine, giving me extra heat.
“Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been anywhere on my own with someone who didn’t work for me?”
“You don’t have any friends to hang out with?”
“Not ones I don’t pay.” I laughed and jammed my plastic spoon into my hot fudge, gathering up even more peanuts. “Piper comes to my shows whenever I pass through Seattle. She, Felicia and I did a girls’ trip to Fiji after I finished the tour with Without Grey a few years ago. Piper’s married now.”
Keyton let out a low whistle. “Wow, already?”
“Already. I was at the wedding. She wanted me to be in the bridal party, but I knew it would be a clusterfuck. No one wants paparazzi pictures of their big day showing up on gossip websites. But I gave her a kick-ass bachelorette party.” A twinge nudged at my ribs that I’d be missing Piper’s birthday. The scheduling gods had been against me there, but they took away and also gave back, making today possible. I pushed aside the thoughts of the spillover effect it would have on the rest of my schedule.