I sighed, knowing full well that I wouldn’t get any answers, so I dropped it. “Thank you, Daniel. How can I repay you? Seriously. You’ve done a lot for me, and I don’t think I’d be with this girl if you hadn’t helped out. I’d say I’ll cook for you next time, but you and I both know you don’t want food poisoning.”
“I’ll think of something,” Daniel replied. “For now, just enjoy your night.”
“Thanks. Love you.”
“Love you, too. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Fortunately, when I pulled up to my complex about thirty minutes later, Quinn’s brother’s car was nowhere to be found. I pulled into the garage, parked my car, and took the elevator up to my floor. My house smelled amazing, and I hopped to work, setting out plates for the food and glasses for the wine. When I opened the fridge to grab the bottle, I noticed a plate of cream puffs covered in plastic sitting on the top shelf. They were my favorite dessert. It was a shame that Daniel didn’t take any of the relationships he fiddled with seriously. He was one of the most caring and thoughtful people I knew. Whoever did snap him out of his commitment to a memory was going to be a lucky person.
I grabbed my phone, sent Daniel another, “Thank you, seriously,” text, then went back to work to get the food plated and wine poured. Everything was ready to go just in time. My phone buzzed with Quinn letting me know she was outside. I grabbed my phone and ran downstairs to greet her. Her look was simple, understated even, in a pair of jeans and a zip-up hoodie with a t-shirt underneath. It was her typical work attire, but she had the ability to make anything look good.
“Hey.” I damn near skipped down the path getting to her.
“Hi.” She met me with a kiss, and my hands were already snaking around her back and pulling her close. She pushed me back a little bit. “At least take me inside first.”
“I guess.” I took her backpack off of her back and slung it over my own and then grabbed her hand and led her up the path back into my apartment.
When I opened the door, Quinn took one step inside and gasped. “Um, oh my god. It smells heavenly in here.”
I set her backpack down on the couch in the living room and pulled her into the dining room. The plates were perfectly stacked with the food Daniel had cooked, and the white wine glinted in the flicker of the candles I’d lit.
“Braised brisket, grilled asparagus, halved baby potatoes, and white wine,” I said as I pointed at each of the items as I listed them. I presented the plate of cream puffs. “And for dessert, homemade cream puffs.”
Quinn shook her head. “Stop it. Am I dead or something? There’s no way you’re this good looking, amazing in bed, love football, and can cook.”
“I would love to take credit for this, I really, really, would, but my brother Daniel did it. He’s a chef.” I pulled out Quinn’s chair, and she sunk down into it as I pushed it back up to the table. I took my seat perpendicular to her. “He came here this afternoon and cooked.”
Quinn smirked. “Were you that confident that I was going to ask to come over?”
“I was going to ask. You just beat me to it,” I winked. “Although I know that you can’t resist”—I did an awkward dance—“this.”
Quinn giggled. “You are so weird.”
“You love it, though,” I replied.
Quinn shrugged. “I do.”
We each took a few silent minutes to dig into our meals. The brisket was savory and perfectly seasoned, the asparagus was crisp with a light char, and the potatoes had a slight spice to them. It was amazing.
“Please tell me your brother cooks professionally,” she said.
“He does,” I responded, taking a break to take a sip of my wine. “I’ve tried to convince him to go to New York or California or somewhere where he can really hit it big, but he’s kind of tied himself to Idaho.”
“How come?” Quinn asked.
“He met someone back in high school and kind of went crazy for them pretty instantly. It was just a one-night stand, and he never saw the guy again, but he really romanticized it. He says that was his soulmate. I don’t know. He sticks around Idaho, hoping to bump into him again,” I explained, realizing I’d never told anyone that before. “Uh, you can never tell him that I told you.”
Quinn laughed. “I won’t.” She poked out her bottom lip. “That’s kind of sad, though. What if that guy is long gone or something?”
“Every time I ask him that, he ignores me. I think he probably realizes that it’s more likely than not and just doesn’t want to come to terms with it. Instead, he dates around, mostly for sex, and doesn’t really get attached to people.”
Quinn snickered, taking another bite of her food. “I wish my brother was more like that. He goes all-in on relationships. Like, every date he goes out on, he keeps a piece of memorabilia in case they’re the one so that he has something from their first date in case they get married.”
I furrowed my brow. “That’s a bit intense.”
“Yeah. I feel like if anyone he dates knew he did that, they’d run.” She sighed. “It’s a bummer as his sister, though. He’s such a great guy, and I feel like he’d make someone really happy. People are just so…I don’t know, shitty. I hope he meets someone one day who wants to go all-in with him, too.”
“He will.” I smiled at her knowingly. “There’s someone out there for everyone.”
Quinn nodded back at me. “So I’m learning.”
We finished our meals and carried our wine and cream puffs into the living room to get more comfortable.
Quinn pulled out her playbook, and I frowned at her. “What are you doing?”
She giggled. “What? I told you I need help developing a new gameplan. Lila has mysteriously disappeared from practices. She’s not dead or anything. Her family has talked to her, but she hasn’t been to practice and won’t return any of our calls. She was our powerhouse, and we’re going in with ten players on Friday, so I was hoping you could help.”
I crossed my arms like a pouting child. “I thought it was a ploy to get in my pants.”
She let out a barking laugh. “I don’t need a ploy to get into your pants.”
I chuckled back at her. “Yeah, that’s true.” I rubbed my thumb along her cheek. “I’m kidding, anyway. You know I’ll help.”
She leaned forward and kissed me. “Thank you. It’s not like we won’t eventually get there. Patience is a virtue.”
“You make patience difficult,” I replied with a wink, and she blushed a little.
She started to unzip her hoodie to pull it off and then stopped short. She turned a sly smile to me. “I have an idea.”
“Okay?”
She zipped her hoodie all the way back up. “How about for every play we come up with, I’ll take off an article of clothing.”
Excitement shot downwards at the suggestion. “Football is going to earn me sex?”
She grinned. “Maybe.”
I snatched her playbook from her and flipped it open. “Well, what the fuck are we wasting so much time for?”