She wandered down by the lakeside, snapping pictures and posting them to social media. She’d already posted pictures with the backpack and added links. She took a few pictures of the tent, leaving Jeremy out of the frame, teasing her followers with captions like…
He didn’t have to go to all this trouble—jk he totally did.
What do u know? Country boys speak romance. Lucky me.
Big girls. Hot dates. She included a few appropriate—or inappropriate—emojis on that one.
The likes on the backpack pic were insane. The likes on the tent pic were even better. Who knew dating could be good for traffic?
“I’m putting pics of the tent and stuff on Instagram, but not you, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I won’t post any pics of you without your permission. It’s a hard and fast for me. But I will totally insinuate shit without tagging you. Just so you know.”
He chuckled. “That’s fine, Tayla. I don’t mind.”
“Are you on Insta? Facebook?”
“Nope.”
“Snapchat? YouTube?” She took a few ninja pics of Jeremy bending over the table. She was only human, and he had a great ass. “Do you post any rock climbing videos or stuff like that?”
“No videos. No snaps. No faces or books.” He straightened from setting the table. “I have an Instagram feed for the shop and a website for the shop. That’s it though. Nothing personal.”
Tayla blinked. “Wait, what?”
Jeremy laughed. “I’m a dinosaur, but it’s by design.”
“Nothing? Not even a weird LinkedIn profile you don’t remember activating but somehow it’s still there?”
He narrowed his eyes. “Okay, I might have one of those.”
“I think everyone does.” She climbed on top of a log and walked the length of it, feeling like she was back on her elementary school playground. “Logs are fun.”
“I’m gonna leave that joke alone and tell you rocks are more fun.”
She wrinkled her nose. “You’re going to try to get me rock climbing, aren’t you?”
“You know, people at all different fitness levels can start—”
“Whoa there.” She held up a hand. “I’m plenty fit, my friend.”
Tayla had been wanting to try a few yoga poses on the log, but she wasn’t exactly in the right clothes. She toed off her shoes and moved to mountain pose. She closed her eyes, centering herself and feeling her energy from the soles of her feet on the curve of the smooth wood and up her spine. Her breath expanded her lungs and flowed out, opening her senses.
She stretched her toes and shifted her weight to her right foot. Were her jeans stretchy enough? She’d try a dancer pose and see.
Tayla lifted her left foot and stretched her arms, her left moving back to hook her thumb around her big toe and the right stretching forward. She lifted her heart and released her breath as she opened her eyes. The lake spread out before her, a smooth mirror reflecting the green hills and darkening sky. Wow. She hadn’t been expecting the wonder.
“Beautiful.”
She turned her head to the side and caught Jeremy with his phone up. “Are you taking my picture?”
“Trust me when I say you’re going to want a copy of this one. You look incredible.”
She released her foot and stretched her arms out and up, re-centering her feet and aligning her spine, her hands coming to rest in front of her heart. “It’s beautiful here.”
“You know, the gates open at dawn all summer. If you ever wanted to come up here to practice, no one would bother you.”
She jumped down off the log and immediately felt the dirt coat her toes. Shit. She’d forgotten she was in the natural world and not the friendly yoga studio on 7th Avenue. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
She dusted off as best she could and walked over to the blankets with her shoes in her hand. “Told you. Plenty fit, thank you very much. I just have no need to climb rocks.”
He threw his head back and groaned. “With your sense of balance, you’d probably be amazing on a bouldering wall.”
“So you want to give yoga a try?”
Jeremy spread his hands out. “Sure. I could stand to be more flexible.”
Dammit. He’d called her bluff. She’d been sure a Metlin boy would consider yoga too girly for his big manly body. “Okay, I’ll keep that in mind.”
He bent down and lit the candles on the small table. “Sensing a possible theme for our second date.”
“Would I be that predictable?” She sat on a wide blue cushion by the table. “So, this is supercute and everything looks delicious.”
“I’m glad you like it. Do you like salmon?”
“I do. I love salmon.”
“I might have known that because I bribed Emmie to tell me secrets.”
Tayla smiled. “What did you bribe her with?”
“I promised to start carrying more romance manga at the store.”
“That sounds like a uniquely Emmie bribe.” Tayla reached for a glass of white wine and eyed the chilled salmon on her plate. Jeremy had complemented it with a green salad and half an artichoke. “Okay, this all looks amazing. Sauvignon blanc?”
Jeremy reached for his fork. “No. A Spanish wine. Albariño. Try it. Since the salmon is cold, it should taste great with it.”
And he knew wine too. The man was ridiculous. She gave up. She lifted her glass. “Cheers. To the best picnic I’ve ever been on.”
“Cheers.” He clinked his wineglass with hers. Then he took a bite of salmon and licked his lips after he swallowed. “This is delicious. Eat. The light show starts when the sun goes down.”
“Light show?”
Hours later, after watching a meteor shower and drinking hot chocolate by an actual campfire, Jeremy drove Tayla home. She’d pitched in to break down the tent and helped him throw everything in the back of the pickup. Now she was wrapped in one of the blankets and looked like she was falling asleep.
They rolled over the hills and back into town. Quiet music on the radio. Silence between the two of them.
He didn’t question whether she’d had a good time. Tayla hadn’t hidden her enjoyment. She was completely open about her feelings, both her irritation with the dirt and bugs and her delight at the meteor shower, the lakeside, and the picnic.
Her head fell forward and jerked up. Her eyes flickered open. “Are we back?”
“Almost.”
“Hmmm.” She unbuckled her seat belt and scooted closer to him, laying her head on his shoulder. “Don’t crash.”
“Don’t do anything crazy and I’ll do my best.”
“Was that a veiled reference to road head?”
He shook his head and tried unsuccessfully to smother a smile. “Woman, you have a dirty mind.”
“I read a lot of romance novels. They’re good for the imagination.”
“I’ll remember that.”
She turned to him, her face glowing in the streetlamps as she leaned her chin on his shoulder. “Good idea.”
Damn. If he wasn’t driving, he’d kiss her. He exited the highway and turned north on 6th Avenue before he turned right again on Main. “And you’re home.”
“Am I?” She was staring at the storefront. “I don’t know if I am, Jeremy.” Her voice was stripped of artifice. She sounded lost.
You don’t know where home is.
He put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “Home for now.”
“Yeah.” She scooted over and opened the door before he could hop out of the truck and open it for her.
Jeremy walked around and grabbed her backpack from the toolbox in the back of his truck, making sure there was no dust or dirt on it. He turned to hand it to Tayla and found her standing right in front of him.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey.” He put the backpack on the ground, cupped her cheeks with both hands, and kissed her. He wasn’t polite this time. He’d been hungry for her all night.
Tayla’s
mouth tasted like chocolate and strawberries. His tongue stroked hers, teasing the inside of her mouth until she opened more. His palm ran down her neck, his thumb brushed over her pulse, and he stroked her shoulder. Her arm. Her waist. He slid his thumb into the back pocket of her jeans and cupped her ass.
Fine, fine ass.
Tayla pressed her body closer. She couldn’t have missed his body’s reaction to her; she didn’t seem to mind. Her hand dug into the small of his back, giving him all sorts of ideas.
He swallowed the groan that wanted to leave his throat and ran his teeth along her full lower lip, licking the edge with the tip of his tongue.
Her nails dug into his skin.
“Mmmm.” He savored one more taste of her tongue before he let her go. “You should go in.”
Her eyes were closed. Her lips were flushed and swollen. “I’m thinking about so many other things than going inside right now.”
Jeremy smiled and bent down to her ear as he gave her ass one more squeeze. “To be continued.”
“You’re evil,” she whispered.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“It’s not an insult.” She bent down and picked up her backpack, reaching for the keys in the front pocket. “I’ll see you later. Send me a dirty text when you get home.”
He pointed toward Ash. “When I get home in like three minutes because I live around the corner?”
“Yes. Then.” She unlocked the door and waved at him. “Dirty texts. I’ll be expecting them.”
As you wish. He almost said it, but she’d seen The Princess Bride too. He wasn’t putting himself out there like that. Not yet. “I’ll text you.”
She blew him a kiss and closed the door, locking it behind her, and Jeremy got back in the truck. He drove up 8th Avenue, crossed Central, and turned left on Oak. When he got to Ash, he turned right and pulled into the driveway. Hopping out, he opened the gate and pulled the truck into the backyard. He’d unload everything in the morning before he headed to the mountains.
He closed the gate and got out his phone, then he found a picture Cary had taken of him during a particularly muddy hike last spring in Yosemite when they were going up to some falls.
He texted the picture of him covered in mud to Tayla.
There you go. Hope that’s dirty enough for you.
I requested textS. Plural. I’m going to need more than this.
Just how dirty are you looking for?
The series of emojis she sent back was enough to make him blush even if he didn’t understand what half of them meant.
Tayla smiled every time her phone buzzed, trying to ignore the multiple pictures of Jeremy covered in varying levels of dirt. In many of them he was in a climbing harness that gave her too many ideas. In others, he was shirtless and sweaty. She responded to each with increasingly dirty innuendo.
Yes, almost dirty enough.
Now without the harness.
Tell me more about ur knot-tying skillz. She added a raised eyebrow emoji to that one.
Between responding to texts, she reread the open email on her laptop. She’d been checking her mail when Jeremy’s first text came in. It was an inescapable habit. She couldn’t sleep without checking her email.
* * *
Hey, Tayla,
We love your résumé, your writing voice on your blog, and your social media feeds. Everyone in the office is impressed with what you might bring to the team.
I know you’re not in the Bay Area anymore, but would you be willing to come up for an interview? Our team is built on person-to-person contact and community, so we prefer in-person meets to video conferences. Let me know what your schedule is like.
All the best,
Kabisa Nandi
SOKA, Inc.
Chapter Eight
Lunch at Café Maya meant Daisy was always working, which meant once a month, Tayla insisted they have lunch someplace other than downtown. She’d driven them to a sushi place in the strip mall off the highway, hoping it lived up to its online reviews.
“Have you been here before?” Daisy asked. “I’m so excited. We never go for sushi. Spider isn’t a fan.”
“I’ve been here a couple of times,” Emmie said. “It’s really good. As good as anything you can get in San Francisco. People just don’t come because of the location.”
“You’re just saying that because SOKA wants me to come in for an interview.” Tayla put her bag on the extra chair of the table the waitress waved them toward. “And you know I miss sushi.”
“I’m telling you that because it’s really good. It’s the only sushi place Cary’s mom will go to in Metlin.”
Cary’s mom had grown up in Japan, so Tayla gave the strip mall sushi place the benefit of the doubt. The exterior didn’t look like much, but the interior was cute with adorable pictures of cats eating sushi on the walls and a truly impressive display of origami in a corner of the bar.
“I’m telling you it’s good.” Emmie sat across from Tayla. “It has nothing to do with you wanting to move back to the hellhole of urban congestion and tech bros.”
Tayla just rolled her eyes. Emmie had mostly come around about her moving away, but she still liked to get snarky. Then again, if she didn’t get snarky, would she be Tayla’s best friend?
“What should we order?” Daisy opened the menu. “What’s good?”
“Everything I’ve ordered has been good, so what do you like?”
The waitress walked up. She was a short Asian woman with a curvy figure and her hair twisted up in a knot. The edges of her bangs were spiked and tipped with gold dye. “Hey.” She pointed at Emmie. “You’ve been here before. You can’t handle your sake.”
“You are correct.” Emmie raised her hand. “And I promise not to order any today. Also, I’m working, so I definitely shouldn’t order it.”
Tayla said, “That makes me think you should.” She opened the menu. “Why else do we work for ourselves? I’ll have a bottle of nigori and a water please.”
“I like it.” The waitress looked at Daisy. “How about you? Want a glass to share?”
“Sure. Emmie, you’re driving.”
“I guess I am,” Emmie said. “And I’ll just have a green tea. Thanks.”
The waitress wrote on her order pad. “The chef got some fatty tuna in this morning that’s pretty amazing. So that’s the special. And spicy cucumber salad with octopus. You guys have any questions?”
They conferred a few minutes before they ordered a mixed nigiri platter with the fatty tuna and a large salad to share.
Tayla watched the server walk away. She was probably nineteen or twenty with a really cool and funky style. Student at the local college? Aspiring sushi chef? Something about her style reminded Tayla of the restaurant. Fun. Cool. Unexpected. Especially for Metlin.
When the server came back with their drinks, Tayla asked her, “Did you help design the restaurant’s interior?”
A smile lit her face. “Yeah, I did! It’s my brother and sister-in-law’s place, but I’m going to school for art, so they asked me to help.” She pointed to the cat paintings. “Those are mine.”
Emmie said, “You painted them? That’s so cool. They’re really funny.”
The server shrugged. “This place is kind of quirky, you know? So I wanted to do something fun that would make my sister-in-law laugh. My brother is super serious and traditional, but she’s not.”
“I love it.” Tayla got out her phone. “Are you on Insta? What’s your name?”
“I’m Mika. Yeah, I’m on Insta, but I actually set up a website after a bunch of customers asked about my work.” She glanced at the counter. “I’ll bring you my card because I really need to get my other table.”
She left, and Tayla perused the walls of the sushi place again. “Emmie, you should ask about hanging some of her work at INK. Ox might go for some of her stuff too.”
“I was just thinking that. I already had that guy from the music studio asking if I ever exhibit
ed local artists. He was fishing, but it’s a cool idea.”
Daisy said, “You could ask for some of Cary’s photographs too if you wanted.”
Tayla frowned. “I didn’t know Cary was a photographer.”
“Oh yeah. He’s amazing. It’s part of the reason he started climbing.” Daisy smiled. “You should ask Jeremy about it.”
“I might.” Tayla looked around the restaurant. “You know, SOKA could sell this kind of stuff too. Art. Lifestyle stuff. Right now they’re focused on clothes, but that could translate into more of a lifestyle curator, you know? Art. Home goods. Interesting accessories.”
“You should bring it up if they ask you about it at your interview,” Daisy said. “I think companies are looking for that kind of initiative these days. Shows you have a creative mind.”
Tayla sipped her sake. “Fashion is innately creative.”
Emmie added, “And if you want a reference about all the cross promotion you’ve done at INK, I could totally give you one. You’re awesome at all that kind of stuff.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“So when’s the interview?”
“I sent them a couple of dates next week that would work for me. I’m waiting to hear back.”
“And while you’re waiting, we can grill you about your date.” Emmie rubbed her hands together. “I’ve been waiting for this.”
“What are you talking about?” Tayla asked. “You were waiting up for me on Saturday night.”
“And you told me nothing!”
“I told you it was nice.” It was so much more than nice. “What else do you want to know? Daisy helped him set it up. Don’t tell me you haven’t already talked about it.”
“Actually, I kept my mouth shut,” Daisy said. “I was sworn to secrecy, and I take that seriously.”
“I need to hear it from you,” Emmie said. “I’ll start slow. Is he a good cook? I’ve never seen him cook.”
“Yes. We went on a picnic and the food was great. He may have bought some things though. Not sure. Don’t care.”
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