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“You know I haven’t. You’ve been with me the whole day. Did you think I pulled a burger out of my purse and ate it in the bathroom at the rest stop?”
I wasn’t sure what offended me more. The fact that he hadn’t thought I might need to eat at some point or that he wasn’t aware that we’d spent the whole day together. Nearly every single minute, if you wanted to really log it. I was very aware of that fact. My skin was continuously tingling from awareness of that fact. Yet he hadn’t noticed?
“Whoa. Alright. Good point. Let’s go get you something to eat.”
“Thank you,” I said, striving for great dignity. I tripped over the chair leg on my way out of the room and collided just a little with the doorframe. Just a little, though.
“You weren’t joking when you said you’re not much of a drinker.”
“I never joke.” Probably not true, but in my mind it sounded good. Then I realized that wasn’t what I meant to say. “No, I mean I never drink.”
“Clearly.” MacKay backtracked. “Let me grab you some water.”
“I’m going to stay behind,” Ian said. “I still have work to do.”
“That’s cool. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
“That whiskey kissed me too much,” I said when MacKay reappeared with a snifter full of water. I wasn’t entirely sure that sentence made sense but it felt important to say it.
“If you ask me, it looks like it full on made out with you,” MacKay said, putting his hand on my elbow.
I nodded. That seemed like a very wise statement to me. I took a huge gulp of water and then choked a little. As I covered my mouth, I realized we were a man short on this tour.
“Hey, where’s Dylan?” I asked. I had thought he was supposed to be spending the day with us so I could learn everything I needed to learn about everything. Or something like that.
“I was wondering the same thing. I have no idea.”
“That’s weird,” I said, then realized I didn’t know if it was weird or not.
Becky came out of the meeting room behind us with a pack of crackers in her hand. “Here, hon, have these and you’ll feel better real quick like.”
“Thanks, Becky, you’re amazing,” I said, and I meant it. I hugged Becky. She looked a little startled, but she returned the gesture, patting me on the back comfortingly.
I couldn’t get the cracker wrapper open. My fingers weren’t working right.
MacKay took the crackers from me and tore open the plastic. He removed a cracker sandwich with cheese in the middle and held it up for me. I thought that was sweet. He was sexy and he was caring.
For some drunken reason I thought he was feeding me. I leaned forward and bit the cracker. His eyes widened. Crumbs trickled down over his fingers.
It occurred to me then that he had just been handing it to me.
Whoops. I reached out and took the cracker, flicking my tongue across the top to moisten it and prevent more crumbs. MacKay gave a heavy sigh, like his life was really difficult. I bit the cracker again.
“Sorry,” I said. Only because I was chewing, cracker dust went flying out and hit MacKay in the face.
To his credit, he didn’t freak out. He just said, “Alright, just drink your water. Let’s go check into the hotel and then get you some dinner.”
I drank my water and ate the other three crackers in the pack as we went out to MacKay’s car. Curious, I looked around as we drove from the distillery to the downtown of Wanted.
It wasn’t extensive, but it was charming. Lots of red brick buildings and Victorian style houses. This was going to be my home for the foreseeable future. It actually seemed like it was having some sort of revival. There was an organic coffee shop, a trendy looking salon, and a baby boutique. There were copper planters lining the downtown sidewalks, a giant mural of a distillery, and a few people milling around. An elderly couple. Two moms pushing strollers together.
“How many people live here?” I asked.
“I have no idea.”
“Is there a decent rental market?” There didn’t appear to be any actual apartment buildings.
“I don’t know that either. Ian can help you more there.”
