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He shook his head.
“You’ve never had a Moon Pie?” she asked, as if that was outrageous. She then looked up to the heavens, as if seeking guidance from God.
Jacob shook his head again.
“Well, this is your lucky day.” After setting hers down, she took Jacob’s Moon Pie, ripped opened the clear, cellophane wrapper, and reverently removed the Moon Pie. Then, with great showmanship, she broke it in half and showed him the inside. “They’re two graham crackers with marshmallow filling in the middle, covered in chocolate. They come in a couple of different flavors, but chocolate is the best. You’ve really never had one?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Jacob shrugged.
She looked at David, who quickly defended himself. “They’re full of sugar.”
“That’s what makes them so good,” Paige whispered loudly to Jacob, who smiled in response.
She handed Jacob his two halves, then picked up her own Moon Pie and freed it from its wrapper to take a bite. Jacob followed suit and as soon as he did, his eyes widened and he started to chew with childish vigor.
“When I was a kid, I thought they were made from part of the actual moon,” Paige said, talking with her mouth partially full, uncaring at the moment if it was bad manners.
“Are they?”
“No. And that kind of made me sad, because I thought eating part of the moon would be cool.”
Jacob tilted his head. “But what if you ate them all? Then the moon would be gone.”
She tilted her head in return. “You know, you’re way smarter than I was at your age, because I never thought of that.”
Once the Moon Pies were history, David used a wet wipe on Jacob’s hands and then told him, “Go play some more. Burn off that Moon Pie.”
He immediately jumped up and ran off, making Paige chuckle in wonder. “I would kill for that kind of energy.”
“Same,” David agreed, as he began cleaning up the remains of their picnic.
She waved him off. “No. I’ve got this.”
It didn’t take long, and when she was done, she settled back, legs stretched out in front of her. A few seconds later, Paige felt the slight weight of David’s hand on her shoulder, and when it stayed there, she turned to look at him.
“I’m just elevating my hand,” he explained innocently. “I’m supposed to do that as often as I can to help reduce the swelling.”
She almost snorted at that oversell. “Right,” she said, instead, before turning away from his stupidly handsome face.
For a while they sat in fairly comfortable silence, watching the action on the playground, but when David began lightly stroking the back of her neck with his thumb, she knew she needed to distract herself from it, because even though her body was willing to respond to it, her mind was still a little disconnected.
But, God, she’d missed his touch.
With sheer force of will, she returned all of her attention back to Jacob, who seemed to have acquired a sidekick—a girl his own age.
“That’s … interesting,” Paige murmured, amused.
“It’s always like this.”
“Really?”
“Oh, yeah. Even at preschool, his ‘boy’ friends are outnumbered by ‘girl’ friends,” David said. “They really seem to be drawn to him.”
“Probably because he’s very sweet.”
