Page 27 of Ghost

I reached for his hand. “Remember, it’s not that bad.”

He forced a crooked smile. “Number three?”

He’d eaten half his pie, and I hadn’t so much as touched mine. I gestured toward his plate with a nod. “Let me get caught up, and then I’ll answer.”

With little effort, I gobbled down two pieces of pie. I’d eaten plenty of pecan pie in the past, none of which came close to the quality of what I was eating. I reached for another piece. “How did you find out about this place.”

He pulled the fork past his tightened lips, wiping it clean as he removed it from his mouth. “We ride up here all the time.”

“We?”

“I ride in a motorcycle club. We come up here as a group.” He chuckled. “A couple of the guys really like pie.”

“Are you one of them?” I asked. “The pie lovers?”

“Pies are a lot like women,” he said. “A man can live the rest of his life without one as long as he’s never reminded of their existence. However, once one is placed in front of him there’s not much else that matters.”

His response was cute and sad at the same time. I swallowed my pie and gave him my best sultry look. “What if there’s a woman and a pie in front of you?”

He opened his arms wide. “All of what surrounds him vanishes.” He gestured to the table. “Then, all that’s left is her and the five and a half pieces of pie she needs to eat.”

“Until she gets up and walks away. Right?”

His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“You said a man can live the rest of his life without a woman as long as she’s not in front of him. Per your theory, when she walks away he’s left needing nothing.”

“That’s not what I said. I said a man could live the rest of his life without a woman in it as long as he wasn’t reminded of their existence. A smell, a sound, my wandering mind, the rear seat on my bike being empty. All those things could remind me of your existence. That reminder makes it impossible to live without you.”

I liked the thought of him not being able to live without me but didn’t particularly care for his analogy.

“You’ve got five and a half pieces of pie and one question to go,” he said. “You better get busy, or we’ll be stuck in rush hour traffic.”

I could have told him anything for the answer to question number three, and he’d never know the difference. Telling him the truth would leave me feeling incompetent and weak. I was sure of it. I hated admitting that there was something everyone else on earth seemed to acquire without much effort, and for some reason, I wasn’t allowed to have it.

“The task on my to-do list that’s likely to be accomplished last, if at all, is number two.” I poked the remaining piece of pie into my mouth and spoke over my mouth full of food.

“Fawn lub,” I muttered.

He scrunched his nose and gave me a funny look. “What?”

“Fawn lub.”

“If I spoke with my mouth full my grandmother would have smacked my ass,” he said. “Swallow your pie, Abby.”

I washed my pie down with a drink of milk and reached for another piece. “Sorry. Fall in love.”

“Falling in love is on your to-do list?” he asked.

I sloved half the piece into my mouth and nodded. “Yeth.”

“That’s cute,” he said.

I swallowed the wad of pie. “You think it’s cute?”

He nodded. “I do.”

“I think you’re cute,” I responded.