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“I agree.” She gave him a mock toast with her drink. “It’s going to be so nice getting away for a bit.”
“Absolutely. I haven’t been to the beach in a very long time.”
“Was the last time your honeymoon?” After she said it, she cringed. Why did she bring up his marriage? The first rule of dating, fake or not, was not to bring up the ex. “Where did you go?”
“Hawaii. Lucinda spent most of the time posing for Instagram shots. I hear those photos got a lot of likes.”
“Did . . . you enjoy that?”
“Does it matter?”
“I think it does.” Amelia was dying to know more, yet the pinched expression on his face made her question if she should even ask.
“You and Lucinda would disagree there then,” he said.
That was far sadder than she expected.
“You know what? Fuck the ex. We’re talking about the future now.”
“Okay, let’s talk about the future.”
“It’s all sunny beaches from here. And a lot of walking. We like to pretty much park the car for a week unless we find a restaurant a little farther away we want to go to.”
“Sounds like exactly what I need.”
They were interrupted by their food’s arrival, and Amelia’s stomach panged with hunger. She tore into her pancakes, forgetting about the man across from her. After half of them were gone, she looked up.
Daniel was cutting his neatly. She wondered if he’d watched her in horror as she stuffed the food in her mouth.
Be normal. She desperately needed to be normal.
She paused to look for something to entertain her. What she settled on was him. Daniel ate slowly and methodically, just like he seemed to do his work. She knew she was straight chaos, but she’d have to tone it down for him.
“Are you already finished?”
She blinked, realizing she hadn’t eaten in a good few moments. “No,” she said. “Just taking a minute.”
She resumed, but slower this time. After she’d almost finished her plate, she looked back up at him.
“So,” she started, “do you think that this could work?”
Even after she shoveled her food into her mouth like a gremlin?
“I think it could.”
“Great.” She felt relieved. She hadn’t blown this just yet. “Maybe after this, my mom will get off my back about being in a relationship.”
“Being single isn’t a problem. Sometimes, it’s better this way.”
“Right? I was relieved when Andrew left.”
“I felt the same way with Lucinda.”
Amelia wondered if he had dealt with the same things she had. Did Lucinda put him down at any chance she got? Did she get angry and take it out on him? She wouldn’t wish that on her worst enemy.
A cold bed and silent home were small prices to pay for not being put through that again. All she needed was her work and her family. That was it.
Her mother didn’t understand. She thought Amelia was lonely and needed a partner. But she didn’t need one because she didn’t need the inevitable fighting that came with it.
