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As Jason drove around several corners, they lost some elevation. Not a hill, but…
Suddenly, they were in a parking lot on the river’s edge with cypress trees hanging over them and a shack with a line of people at the door.
“I feel like we’ve stepped back in time,” Marsie said as she popped the car door open. She stood next to her Prius and looked around. The highway wasn’t that far away, but this place was not just from another time—it also seemed like it was thousands of miles from the highway. With the river in front of her and all the trees around them, plus the…restaurant, she was guessing from the barely legible sign that said Cypress Grill, that seemed to be barely standing, she could almost be on another planet. Even though the Research Triangle Park and all of its high-tech companies and research firms was only two hours away.
“Great, right,” he said, looking at her with an encouraging smile on his face. His arm snaked around her waist, and she leaned into his warmth. It was late March, so it wasn’t cold in North Carolina, but it wasn’t warm, either, and Jason was.
Plus, she just liked being next to him. He smelled good. Not like cologne, but like Jason. And Jason was a man she wanted to keep smelling.
“I’m pretty sure this is the last river herring shack in North Carolina. They’re only open January through April and, no matter what else is on the menu, you have to order the river herring. They’ll get it so crisp that you can eat everything but the ribs and spine.”
He gave her waist a gentle squeeze, and all her muscles seemed to relax at once. “This is all really great,” she said, because it was. She let him take her somewhere as a surprise, and he’d taken her someplace completely unexpected. Nothing she would have ever found on her own.
It didn’t even matter if the food at the Cypress Grill was good or not, because she was here, with him, trying something new with a man who challenged her.
Her day was perfect.
* * *
ONCE THEY’D EATEN and climbed back in her car—Jason in the driver’s seat again—Marsie asked, “How did you find out about this place? You didn’t grow up down east.”
“No,” he said, backing them out and up to the road for the drive to some other surprise. She was guessing that she needed her comfortable shoes for the next place.
“I’d love to say that I found it because I fish with my dad and fishermen all talk about river herring and this place, but that’s not true at all.” He glanced over to her and she thought he looked a little embarrassed, which made no sense.
“Everything we see today I saw on Carolina Weekend.” He named a show on the local PBS station with a shrug. “I’ve actually never been to any of these places, either. But ever since I saw that particular episode, I’ve wanted to visit them. It was probably the first time I wanted to hit every place they covered. And I decided I’d take a special girl there.”
“So I’m special, huh?” she said, unable and unwilling to stop her chest from puffing out with pleasure.
“You know you are.”
“Thank you.” She said the words primly, because she knew he would laugh and he did.
It wasn’t until they were far down the road to whatever their next destination was that she realized being taken on a surprise trip by someone who had never even been to the places that he was trying to surprise her with would normally bother her. Not upset, but like a small rock in your shoe that wasn’t enough to stop you in your tracks, but an irritant you’d continue to think about while moving forward.
Huh. So this is trust. It’s nice.
She leaned her head back against the headrest and turned her face to gaze out the window, content in their companionable silence and the passing scenery.
* * *
JASON PULLED INTO the parking lot at Pettigrew State Park, pretty damn pleased with himself, truth be told. Marsie had enjoyed her river herring and—even better—she’d appreciated the Cypress Grill’s uniqueness and its character. As they’d stood on the edge of the parking lot, his arm around her, looking over the cypress trees and the river, he’d felt as content as he could ever remember being.
