by Emma Nichole
I sit in my car at the parking meter for far too long, until I literally have to get out or he’s going to think I’ve bailed on him, and that’s the last thing I want.
I slide my crossbody on and climb from my car.
When I round the corner onto the street I’m supposed to be meeting him on, I stop when I see him standing there.
He’s scrolling through his phone with one hand in his pocket, dressed in dark jeans and a short-sleeve, white T-shirt. His hair, dark and rich, is perfectly messy in that sexy, annoying way guys manage to pull off.
The streets aren’t as busy as I expect them to be for a Sunday night, especially since the fall hours mean cooler weather and earlier sunsets.
I finally make my way closer until he senses the movement of me coming up to his side and raises his face toward mine.
“You made it,” he says simply, and that damn smile greets me like an old friend.
“I did. Sorry I’m a little late. I just… I’m a little nervous is all.” I shrug a little. If I’m really going to give this a chance, I figure honesty is the best policy.
He slides his phone into his back pocket. “If I’m honest, I’m a little nervous too.”
“You are?”
I’m honestly shocked he even admitted that to me. Every man I’ve ever been with in my life would rather chop off his own arm than be vulnerable, so this is refreshing.
“I’m on a first date with a beautiful woman. If a man ever tells you he’s not nervous in that situation, he’s lying.”
“Then I’m happy we are equal footing.” I shift nervously.
“What do you say we head on inside and have a drink before things get started?”
“What are we doing exactly?”
“You’ll see.” He smiles wickedly. “Shall we?”
He places his hand on the small of my back and shivers climb up my spine in the best way. His touch is warm and kind. There is nothing about it that makes me feel uncomfortable or pressured.
“We shall, Mr. Black. Lead the way.”
***
“Haven’t you ever done this before?” I sip my sweet moscato from the stemless glass, as I watch him very carefully and very slowly slice a cucumber into strips.
I don’t know what I was expecting for a first date with him, but making sushi from scratch in a cooking class certainly wasn’t it.
“Not exactly, but I’ve got it. How hard can it be?”
He squints in concentration. I’ve offered to take over after I prepped the sticky sushi rice with sugar and vinegar, but he’s determined. Clearly.
The room is laid out like a swanky home economics room. There are a dozen individual cooking areas, complete with everything you could need to make a meal, plus the instruction area at the front.
Every cooking station is occupied by two people, wine is flowing, conversation is being had. It’s easy. It’s nice.
I watch him closely as he makes the final slice into the cucumber and places the knife down.
“Got it.” A huge smile appears on his face.
I just giggle. “Nicely done.”
We set out to start building our sushi rolls, working in tandem, one roll each at a time. We work in sync surprisingly fast, like we’ve done this many times before.
“So how long have you lived in Sunnyville?”
I pat out a layer of rice onto my nori then answer, “I’ve been here almost a year.”
“Why here? I mean, it’s not exactly a place that people flock to. There’s usually a reason. It’s a small area.”
The truth isn’t exactly first date conversation, so I settle for telling him the CliffsNotes version.
“I was living in Southern California for a while. When I was younger I always wanted to live there, so when I was old enough, I left home and moved there for college. After a while, a change was needed so I looked for somewhere new and easy. So… I googled.”
“You googled somewhere and just decided to move here? Sunnyville, of all places?”
“I know it sounds crazy,”
“No, not crazy, just surprising is all.”
“It’s paid off so far,” I tell him, before flashing him a smile. “What about you? Have you always lived here?”
“My whole life.” He adds the salmon, avocado, and cucumber to his rice and begins to carefully and slowly roll his sushi. “A tried and true, born and raised Sunnyvillian. Where were you from before you came to California?”
“Tennessee. Southern girl to my core, but now I have that little bit of Cali flair.” My cheeks redden almost immediately. “I can’t believe I just said that.”
“I thought it was adorable,” he nudges me a bit, “I like Southern girls with Cali flair.”
After I’ve finished rolling my sushi, I dab my fingertips in the small bowl of water and seal the edges of the nori.
“You never wanted to escape the small-town lifestyle?” I ask.
“Never.”
His answer is simple and to the point, leaving no room for questions regarding it.
“I envy that actually; the contentedness with where you are.”
I slice through my roll, making individual pieces. I finish and glance over at him, catching him just staring at me. “What?”
He blinks quickly, like I’ve snapped him out of a thought. “You’re very good at this.”
“It’s my favorite food.”
“Lucky guess on my part then, huh?”
“I don’t know. You are showing stalker tendencies. Maybe you knew.” I stick my tongue out then shriek a little when he dips his finger into the water bowl and flicks it at me. I’ve missed being playful like this. It’s my favorite part of getting to know someone.
We continue to prepare our meal, when a nice-looking older man with an equally as attractive older woman approaches Isaac and places a hand on his shoulder. He looks over his shoulder and stands straighter when he sees who it is.
“Chief Malone. Mrs. Malone. It’s been a long time. How are you?”
“Oh, Isaac, you know you can call me Betsy. None of that Mrs. Malone nonsense.” The woman presses up to kiss his cheek. “You look good, dear. How’s the station? Are you keeping my son in line?”
“I don’t think anyone is capable of keeping Grady in line, ma’am, but things at the station are great. Nothing too catastrophic as of late. I’m hoping that trend continues.” He looks back over to me and extends a hand to ask me to come closer. “This is Sawyer Westbrook. She’s an English teacher over at the high school. Somehow I convinced her to keep me company tonight. Sawyer, this is Police Chief Malone and his beautiful wife, Betsy.”
I quickly and aggressively wipe my hands off on my apron when they reach out for a handshake. “It’s so lovely to meet you both.”
“Sawyer. That’s such a lovely name,” Betsy says.
“Thank you.”
“And don’t sell yourself short, Isaac dear, you’re one of the good ones. Anyone would be lucky to spend time with you.”
He looks down as a blush tints his cheeks. “You can’t flirt with me like that here, Betsy. Not around my date and your husband.”
She just laughs and covers her mouth.
Chief Malone speaks up with a chuckle, “On that note, I better take my date over to the next room for the dessert class before this one steals her away.” He claps Isaac on the shoulder again. “Stay safe out there, Black, and it was lovely to meet you, Ms. Westbrook.”
“Same to you.”
They say their goodbyes before leaving us alone once again.
“You’re a popular man around here.”
“Nah, Chief Malone has a son in the station with me, a son on the police force, and a son who flies for Mercy-Life. I’ve naturally had to have a lot of interaction with all of them from time to time, given what I do.” He clears his throat.
“Did you always want to be a fireman?”
Isaac
She’s asking questions about my job. That’s a good sign, right? Becaus
e I really fucking like her, even more so now that I’ve spent some time with her like this.
Don’t fuck this up, Black.
“I did, yeah. I like to help people.”
“A bit of a hero complex?”
“You could say that,” I laugh, placing my hand on the back of my neck, squeezing a bit then letting my hand drop away. “I have always wanted to keep people safe. This allows me to do that.”
“Aren’t you afraid?”
“I don’t have time to be afraid. I have time to focus on making sure everyone is safe.”
“What happens when you don’t?”
It’s impossible to hide the way my smile falls and the way my body goes a bit rigid. It’s not an easy question to answer.
My stomach sinks to my feet. Those moments, thankfully, don’t happen as much as you’d think, but when they do, they stick to your heart like thorny vines.
“When I don’t… I process it as best I can and make sure I did everything within my power to save them. If I tried, really tried, but I just couldn’t get there in time, I have to live with that. It’s hard, yes, and I don’t ever truly get over it, but I have to move forward for the sake of the next person I have to save.”
She takes a breath and releases it slowly. “Heavy first date talk,” she giggles. “I’m sorry for asking about it.”
“You can always ask me anything you want, Sawyer.”
We finish up preparing our food with easy conversation about movies, music, and television shows so when it’s time to take our food out to the balcony seating to enjoy the meal, conversation is flowing easily between us.
I make sure to pull the chair out for her, which seems to surprise her just a bit.
“Thank you.”
“Of course.” As I push her chair in for her, my finger grazes her back just a little and I swear I can hear the smallest intake of breath from her lips. “So, tell me about you, Sawyer. Something no one else knows or a weird quirk. It’s easy to learn the normal topics, but that can get boring, right?”
“That’s a very loaded question.” She l0oks down at her lap and smooths out the napkin lying there. “How about you ask me questions instead, and I’ll ask you some back?”
“That’s fair. I just want to get to know you.” I tap the table with my finger. “Liquor, wine, or beer?”
“After the night I had Friday, I’m swearing off liquor forever, especially tequila.” She takes a small sip of her wine then places the glass down carefully. “I’m sorry about that, again, by the way. I can’t believe I did that.”
I try to stop the smile, because I don’t want her to think I’m making fun of her, but I can’t. “You don’t have to apologize. Like I said, I thought it was cute.”
“You say that like you get drunk texts from girls all the time.”
I watch her closely as she slides the tip of her finger around the rim of her glass. I’m not even sure she knows she’s doing it. It’s probably a nervous habit or a way to fidget.
“I don’t,” I say with a shrug. “Not to say I haven’t before, but it’s not a normal occurrence.”
“Still. It was embarrassing. I don’t want you to think I’m this sloppy drunk who parties every weekend.”
“I never thought that. Not even once. You’re a grown woman. You can get drunk whenever you’d like, and I absolutely encourage you having fun, safely of course. If you feel the need to text someone, my phone is always free.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
She pulls the end of her ponytail over her shoulder. It’s impossible not to be instantly struck by how beautiful she is. She’s the type of beauty that stops you on the street and you just know whether it’s dressed to the nines or rolling out of bed in the morning, she’ll look just as incredible.
“Did you always want to be a teacher?”
That single question makes her face light up, and it’s hard not to match the enthusiasm.
“I did. I always enjoyed helping people understand things, not in a bossy kind of way, but in a I want to make a difference in the world kind of way.”
“You and I have that in common then.”
“Yeah, I suppose we do.” She clears her throat then takes another bite of her sushi. “Anyway, I always wanted to teach and my brother, he always pushed me to do it. Even though he was younger than me, he was trying to guide me along the path to succeed.”
“I always wanted siblings when I was growing up, but my parents started and ended with me. How much younger is he?” I ask.
I watch her throat bob up and down and she looks down at her plate. “Uh, he was six years younger than me. He passed away five years ago.”
“I’m sorry. I… I didn’t know.”
Her eyes sweep up to mine with a tender smile on her face. “It’s okay, you couldn’t have known. It’s hard, but I manage.”
“I can’t even imagine. What about your parents? They live in Tennessee?”
“Mmm hmm. In the Nashville area. I’ve tried to get them to move closer to me, but they are retired now and really enjoy being in their hometown. I can’t say that I blame them.”
“What did they do before retiring?”
“My dad was an OB/GYN and my mom was a nurse. They ran a practice together, actually.” Her eyes light up when she talks about them. It makes my chest tighten at the thought of my parents.
“Wow. That’s incredible, and impressive.”
“What about your parents?” She takes another small sip of wine.
I lean back in my seat, taking my drink with me. “I never knew my parents. My mom had me young, and I guess just decided she didn’t want to be a parent. Same for my dad. Grams stepped up, they stepped out.” I shrug it off. “And here I am.”
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I shouldn’t have asked.”
“Why? We are getting to know one another. It was a fair question. No harm, no foul.”
I don’t make a habit of talking about my parents, mainly because there isn’t much to say. I know they are still alive and they live somewhere in Nevada, but other than that, I know nothing. It was just Grams, my grandfather, and me until I was sixteen, then once he died, I became the man of the house. It’s just been Grams and me ever since.
“So you help take care of your Grams, then?” she asks.
“I do. It’s the least I can do after she put up with my teenage shit,” I laugh. “I always tried to be on my best behavior, but boys tend to be assholes from time to time.”
“You can say that again. I deal with teenagers every day. All hormones and attitude.” She rolls her eyes.
“I imagine it’s much worse when they have a teacher that’s easy on the eyes too,” I joke.
She groans in response and I just laugh.
“That was a good line. I have to admit it.”
“Happy to be of service.”
***
The sun has long since set and the streets are growing emptier as we take a slow walk back to her car.
“I think I’m ninety percent fish at this point,” she pats her belly.
“I will say, if you start growing gills, I’ll have to gracefully bow out,” I chuckle, and she does as well. It’s a sound I want to hear as often as possible.
“This is me.” She points to a small, red compact car and pulls a set of keys from her bag. “I had a really great time, Isaac.”
“So did I.”
She leans back against the driver’s side door and smiles. “What do you have planned for date number two?”
“Is that your way of saying you want to do this again?” Please say yes. Please say yes. I try to play it cool on the outside, even though I’m clearly way too excited on the inside.
“Well, I did agree to five dates because some guy was awfully pushy.”
I lean forward and place my hand on her car by her head, and her breathing accelerates just enough to be noticeable.
“Sawyer, I don’t want you to agree to a second date because of a deal we made
in jest. I want you to say yes because you want to. I’d never make you go out with me if you truly didn’t want to.”
“I want to. I had a nice time, and you’re a nice man who makes me feel comfortable. That’s hard to come by these days.”
“It’s a shame, isn’t it? Men treating women like anything other than the goddesses they are?”
A slow smile spreads over her face. I can see the slightest hint of her white teeth behind her lips. The contrast of the dark lipstick color against her skin is beautiful, and she has this beauty mark just under the left side of her mouth, and a slight scar in her eyebrow that raises skyward when she catches me gawking.
“Are you checking me out?”
“To be fair, I’ve been checking you out all night.”
Her cheeks flush red and she looks down at her feet then back up at me. “Thank you for tonight. Really.”
“It’s my pleasure. I promised Grams I would take her out tomorrow since I’m not on shift until the day after, but I’d really like to see you again soon.”
“I’d like that too.”
“I’ll call you?”
“You better.”
In any other circumstance, I’d lean forward, push her hair from her face, and place a kiss to her lips, but I promised her that she’s different; this is different, so instead, I take her hand in mine and bring it toward my mouth.
“Thank you for spending time with me, Sawyer. I can’t wait to see you again.” I place a gentle kiss to the top of her hand.
Chapter 7
Sawyer
“Listen, I know everyone is excited because we get to miss most of this period today for the career fair, however, that doesn’t mean you don’t have to pay attention now.”
I take my seat at the small podium that is placed just beside my Smart Board at the front of my classroom and my class continues to talk amongst themselves.
Fine.