“This is the pet I want to have someday. These aren’t easy birds to raise. They’re a big commitment. But I think they are the coolest animals around.”
He likes birds, I think with delight.
“So no dogs or cats?” I ask.
Brady shakes his head. “I don’t mind dogs or cats, but I’ve always been drawn to birds. I’m going to get a bird that is easier to start with. But someday, I’ll have a macaw.”
“Are you sure your spirit animal isn’t a macaw?” I tease.
He flashes me a big smile. “Hmm. I’ll Google that later and see what it says. If it is, my ink is completely messed up.”
I laugh, and Brady sets the book aside and picks up another one. “Let’s see if you can figure this one out.”
He shows me a book with mathematical equations all over it and the title of Advanced Mathematics.
“You’re good at math?” I ask, furrowing my brow. “Oh! If you’re trying to stump me, you are terrible at math and have math anxiety.”
“What is math anxiety?” he asks, furrowing his brow.
“I’ll take that as you are good at math,” I say, smiling. “I had math anxiety. Literally, the idea of doing math made me sick. I just thought I hated math until a teacher suggested to my parents that the math was giving me anxiety, and it was blocking my ability to do it.”
“Really?” Brady asks, an expression of interest passing over his handsome face. “Brody has test anxiety, so I can see that. How did you move past it?”
“My parents got me a tutor who specialized in helping students cope with math anxiety. Once I got that sorted out, I did very well in math. I mean, can I ever take super-advanced courses in math? No. Which is good, because I don’t want to.”
“I love solving super-complicated math problems,” Brady says. “I’ll do them as a stress reliever. I work them on flights or in hotels when I’m bored.”
I smile. “So what relieves stress in you causes emotional distress in me.”
He chuckles. “That’s weird, isn’t it?”
“Perhaps. Okay, what’s next?” I say, eager to see the next book in his stack.
“Book number three,” Brady says, lifting up the book, “is the first book I ever checked out of a library. I cried when Mom explained that I had to bring it back for other children to read and love as much as I did.”
Brady turns around the bright yellow book and shows Curious George Makes Pancakes.
I gasp in delight. “Ooh, Brady, that’s so sweet!”
He smiles sheepishly. “Funny, the things you remember. But I still can see the children’s section at the San Diego Public Library, with Mom telling me I could take four books that interested me, and they could be about anything I wanted to read. It was magic to me. It opened a world I still enjoy now, which is reading.”
Four books about things that interested him.
Just like he wants me to pick out four books to show him more of myself.
Because he’s that interested in me.
I nearly feel faint with giddiness upon this realization. Now I understand why Regency heroines kept smelling salts around.
If Brady continues to keep ticking these boxes, I will need to see if I can get some delivered by Amazon tomorrow.
“Now, the last one,” Brady says. He places the book down on the table in between us. I see the title is Twinsense, and it’s the science of being a twin. I stare at the cover, curious as to why he picked this one because I already know he’s a twin. “I can see by your face this one is a curveball.”
I lift my eyes to meet his. “Yes. Obviously, I know you’re a twin.”
“But you haven’t asked about it,” he says. “Which is odd. Once people know I’m a twin, I get a million questions about it. Like what it’s like or if I can read Brody’s mind, or how we look exactly alike even though we are not identical twins. So this is a prompt for my own curiosity.”
That is exactly what I see in his eyes right now: he’s curious as to why I haven’t touched on a huge part of who he is.
“There are three big things that I haven’t asked you about, on purpose,” I explain. “I haven’t asked you about baseball because I wanted you to know I’m on this date for you as a man, not as an athlete. I didn’t want you to think in any way I was going out to dinner with you because of that fact.”
Brady blinks in surprise. “This is so weird. I have never had someone not ask me about baseball.”
I smile. “Well, now you have. The second thing is your relationship with Grace. I figured that would be a second date question. Where you go deeper into things like exes. Things that went wrong, things that went right. Same with family issues and stuff that, at least for me, I only share with a few people.”
“I can respect that,” he says.
“Now the twin one is a bit trickier,” I say, pausing to take a sip of my tea. “Because you have a special bond with Brody that nobody but the two of you understand. I wanted to show you tonight that I want to know who you are outside of you being a twin.
“I want to know you, as you are, outside of all those things,” I continue. “That’s important to me, because while those other things shape you and are a part of you, they’re not what I want to know tonight. These books you shared … these touch me. These are the things I want to know first as I get to know you.”
Brady is quiet as he takes in my words. I see the genuine surprise on his face as he stares at me. I think I’ve rendered him speechless by the lack of words coming from his normally talkative lips.
Finally, he speaks. “Wow. I don’t know what to say. I’ve never had a conversation like this. Ever.”
“I hope you don’t mind that I’m focusing on other things,” I say gently.
“No,” he says, his deep voice tinged with amazement. “I don’t.”
“Good. Now, I believe I have four books to find,” I say, rising from my seat.
Because I know this bookstore so well, from hours of lingering here on Friday nights or weekends, it doesn’t take me long to pull four books. Well, that and the fact that I got to think about what books I wanted while Brady went off in search of his.
I return to the table with my books and sit down. Brady flashes me that crooked smile, and my heart instinctively flutters in response.
“I’m very curious to see what you have there,” he says.
“Hint. None are about ferrets,” I say, picking up the first book in my stack.
Brady laughs. “Because I know that.”
“Correct,” I reply. I hold the first book, which is a huge guide to DC, up to him.
He cocks an eyebrow. “I think I know you’re living in DC.”
“Yes, but I have fallen in love with DC. This feels like home in a way my home growing up never did. And I want to experience all of it. I’m embarrassed to admit I haven’t done even a smidge of the things to see here, but I want to do as many of these things as I can. I want to make it a priority, and I think this spring will be when I start,” I say resolutely.
“I have so many questions about this feeling like your home, but that sounds like a second-date topic for you.”