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Probably because they mistook the serious, planning, sharp-edged Marsie for the whole of Marsie, as opposed to it just being a part of who she was.
“Then what?”
“I guess I want to know when we went from being friends to be lovers. I like to know things.”
She liked to define things, but he didn’t argue with her. Teasing was one thing, but he shouldn’t push just to make her uncomfortable.
“I’d say when was last night. As of last night, we’re dating. We just haven’t gone on a date yet.”
She laughed at that one. “Okay. So when should we go on our first date? The one that I’m paying for because you’re a good feminist.”
“Hey, now, you’re twisting my words,” he said with mock outrage.
He had no idea how she managed to look smug while taking a bite of her biscuit, but she did. Maybe it was the way her nose wrinkled like she was a bunny with a carrot dripping honey. “How’s this? I’m enough of a feminist not to quibble that you’ve gotten out of paying for our first date and I’ll let you pay for the second. The third and fourth will get worked out later.”
“That biscuit must be good if you’re already planning ahead dates three and four.”
“Oh, stop.”
“I think dates three and four will work themselves out on their own, without much help from us.” He speared a bit of his biscuit. “But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. We’ve not gone on date one, yet.”
“What do we do on date one?”
“Since you’re paying, I’ll come up with the idea. And we’ll do it today.”
“Today? But…?”
“Do you have other plans?”
“Not really. I just like time to think about what I’m doing before I do it.”
“You can have time to think about it. After we finish eating our breakfast, I’m going to help you clean up. Then I’m going to run home and get a few things. I’ll be back in about an hour and our first date can start.”
“Okay. What are we going to do?”
“Dinner, right?”
“Yes, right.” She glanced over at the clock above the stove. “At what? Noon?”
“Nah.” He shook his head, enjoying messing with her a little. He wouldn’t push her too far—he hoped—and he’d certainly stop if she got angry, but he thought a part of her enjoyed being poked at a bit. It probably happened too little in her life. “I’ve got a great idea for what we can do today. And I’ve got an idea for dinner.
“All I need is you to pay for it,” he said with a wink.
She huffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Are you going to tell me what we’re doing?”
“Hmm… Honestly, I don’t know.” He was back to not wanting to push her too far. “I think you’ll enjoy it, and I’ll tell you if you insist on knowing. But I’d like to surprise you. I don’t think it’s somewhere you would consider going on your own.”
Marsie had a good poker face. Not a single muscle in her face moved as she tried to think about whether she wanted to know, but he could practically feel the thoughts circle in the air around her. When he finally blinked, he knew she had capitulated.
“Okay. I trust you.”
He breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn’t known he was holding. Trust was far more than he had expected. More than he could have hoped for.
And he prayed to God that he would live up to that promise.
“I do have one question, though.” Because of course she did. She probably had thousands of questions, and part of what had been whirling in the air around them had been all of those questions, and she had been sorting through them, trying to figure out which ones were the most important and which ones she could live in ambiguity with.
“Shoot.”
“What should I wear?”
He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and checked the weather. “You can wear what you’re wearing now.”
He’d quite like that, in fact. She looked hot in her leggings. “But it looks like it might get a bit chilly. So maybe bring a sweatshirt for during the day and something warmer at night. And comfortable shoes. We’re going to be walking a bit.”
