GISELLE
Thayer reached across the table and linked his fingers with mine. “This feels so good.”
“What?” I said, staring across the table at him, a candle flickering between us in the upscale restaurant he’d picked for us.
“Being able to take you out.”
“Yeah? Why’s that?”
“Because you’re hot,” he said.
I laughed. “You’re so stupid.”
The waiter walked over and placed our drinks down in front of us before walking away.
“No, seriously. I’ve just always known we’d be good together,” he said.
“Why’s that?” I asked, picking up my drink and sipping it.
“Well…” he thought about it for a second. “Are we talking before the almost-kiss or after? Because after definitely sucked.”
“Before.”
“Before, you used to laugh at the way I could silence your brother. You and I always liked the same music. And, even though you claimed not to be good at snowboarding, you could tear up a mountain like no girl I’d ever seen before.”
I was beginning to enjoy hearing how much he’d paid attention over the years. And, I was actually glad we didn’t start this sooner. I needed time to see that I had this amazing guy in my life who deserved someone who wasn’t so caught up in their work. It had taken some time, but I could see now that there was more to life than monetary success. “Is that it?” I asked.
He shook his head. “When we were all just hanging at your parents’ house, and you weren’t around your friends, you were so damn gnarly.”
“Gnarly?” I asked, dubiously.
“Yeah. Like you were just so real. And I just wanted to be wrapped up in your world. But you didn’t see it.”
“You were younger than me,” I said, taking another sip of my drink.
“I’m always gonna be younger than you.”
“Yeah, but I thought older guys had it together. I didn’t want to date younger guys who I couldn’t trust.”
“You know you can trust me, right?” Thayer said.
“With my life.”
His eyes flashed away for a second, as if he didn’t know what to do with my honesty, but then he looked back at me with curiosity in his gaze. “What changed?”
“You,” I said matter-of-factly.
He tried to stifle a grin, and it was cute because dimples dipped into his cheeks instead.
“And…” I continued. “It turns out age doesn’t matter. Older guys suck.”
He took a pull of his beer. “So, how are we going to come clean to Kason?”
I dropped my head back and groaned. “I have no idea. You want to do it?”
“Nice try,” he said.
“You could be more agreeable, you know.”