I may not see it, but I know he’s not only watching me go, he’s smiling while doing it.He’s not the only one.
Ten minutes later, Jude locks the door after me and leads me to his surprisingly clean truck, opening the door and shutting me in before rounding the hood and getting in beside me.
The restaurant Jude chose is another one of my favorites and for a moment, I wonder if he’d spoken to one of my brothers about it.
“I love it here,” I say once we’re seated at our table.
“I wasn’t sure where to go, and since we’ve already had takeout from the restaurant you force yourself not to eat at every day,” he says with a smile, “But I went online and this place had so many rave reviews, I figured it was a safe bet.”
It’s not lost on me just how thoughtful Jude is. He has already shown me many times just in the way he acts and with the things he does.
“I’ve been meanin’ to try it out, so thank you.”
His face brightens. “I’m just glad I got it right. Itisour first date, after all. Start out how you plan to continue and all that.”
I cock my head. “What about our Thai takeout?”
“That was me bringin’ food offerin’s to cushion the blow of my news.”
“I get that, but we talked, we ate together. Isn’t that a date?” I ask.
“You make a good point. Maybe this can be our firstproperdate.”
“OK,” I whisper just as the waitress arrives with our drinks—an IPA for Jude and a chardonnay for me.
After ordering food, we’re left alone again and I catch Jude watching me across the table. “How’s your week been?”
“We’ve talked every day since you left,” I remind him.
He lifts his chin at the same time he shoots me a challenging brow. “Maybe I like the way your face lights up when you talk about your job.”
I start to wonder if there’s any way to control myself around him.Blushing, tripping over my words, butterflies… What's next?
“People’s eyes tend to glaze over when I start talkin’ about seismic monitorin’, frackin’, and climate change.”
“Not me. I’ve actually been readin’ about it so I wouldn’t seem like a total idiot over dinner,” he says, surprising me.
“Really?”
“Yep. Even went to the Timber Falls Library and made friends with Mrs. Harrison.”
I splutter out a laugh. “She’sstillthere? She was my English teacher back in high school. I’d heard she was workin’ at the library now. How funny.”
“She was agreathelp. I told her I had a lady friend I wanted to impress and she loaded me up with books.”
“And how did that go for you?” I muse, sipping my wine.
“I can now say I’malmostan expert on the Alaska-Aleutian subduction system.” His lips twitch. “Obviously not as much asyouare, but once I started, I kind of got hooked and then made the mistake of goin’ online and fallin’ down a rabbit hole of videos.”
I stare wide-eyed over the table. “Really?”
He leans forward to lean an arm on the table. “You said that already, wifey. I’m takin’ an interest in your career because Iwant to get to know you better. This is just one of the ways I figured I could do that.”
“Sorry, I’m just… it’s unexpected. I’m flattered.” Impressed… kind of loving the fact he did it.All of the above. “Do you really want to talk about it?”
“You’ve been fascinated by earthquakes since you were a kid. I was the same with plants and makin’ things better for the environment rather than worse,” he explains. “There’s common ground there. Isn’t that part of gettin’ to know someone? Findin’ shared interests?”Oh, he’s good.
“Touche, hubby,” I reply. “You’re right though. One of the things I wanted to do when I first took the job here was to help make things safer for people but also see if there’s anythin’ we can do to slow down the natural processes that cause earthquakes and landslides.”