NOT that this was a date. But still.
As she looked at the people who walked by, she worried less. Lots of other people wore swimsuits under dresses, or just swimsuit tops over shorts, and no one in this entire city seemed to own shoes other than flip-flops, Birkenstocks, or sneakers. No one paid her, or Beau, the slightest attention.
Beau took a step closer to her and bent down to whisper in her ear. “Okay, Izzy. Can you do something for me?”
She could feel his breath against the hairs on the back of her neck. She shivered. She was probably just getting chilly, what with the wet swimsuit and the ocean air.
“Depends on what it is,” she said.
He sighed. “I should have known you would answer like that. Okay. Don’t make any sudden moves, but I need someone else to see this guy at the end of the line.”
Izzy turned very slowly and looked at the back of the line. Her eyes widened, but she didn’t say anything. She looked around for a few more seconds, trying to be casual, then turned to face Beau. His eyes were full of laughter.
“Okay,” she said. “I could have handled the parrots on his shirt; this is California after all. Even the parrots on his shorts, they’re a little matchy-matchy, but fine. But.” She swallowed. “Um. I wasn’t prepared for the live parrot on his shoulder. Is he going to bring that into the ice cream store with him?”
Beau’s face crumpled. “I was trying to hold it together,” he said. “But you just made me picture him standing there…asking for ice cream samples…with the parrot on his shoulder. And I just…”
Izzy started giggling, then Beau did, then they were both laughing helplessly in line. She turned away from him to look in the other direction, in the hope that it would make one or both of them recover, but they both just laughed harder.
She almost leaned back against him but stopped herself. That’s not what this was.
Finally, they got to the front of the line. They decided on their ice cream flavors much more quickly than Izzy would have predicted. Caramel brownie, cookies and cream, coffee, triple chocolate, lemon and marionberry, and vanilla bean. Loaded down with ice cream, hot fudge, and raspberry sauce, they walked back to the car.
“Bye, parrot man,” Izzy said as soon as they were out of earshot. “I’ll never forget you.”
Beau laughed so hard at that he could barely start the car.
On the way back to the house Izzy googled the name of the Thai restaurant Beau told her he liked.
“I’ve probably had half their menu. The only thing I don’t like from that place is the desserts. When I put in a big order, they always send me this strange rice pudding thing, as like, a bonus or something. I’m weird about stuff like that, I hate any kind of pudding.”
Izzy turned to stare at him. “So do I!” she said. “I hate all pudding. Anything with that jiggling texture, I just can’t handle it.” Ohhh. That’s why Michaela had laughed on her first day.
“Really?” Beau laughed. “No one else ever understands this. They’re always like, ‘How do you like chocolate ice cream and not chocolate pudding, they’re the same ingredients?’ Just because they have the same ingredients doesn’t mean they’re the same thing!”
Izzy nodded. “People do that to me, too. They get all shocked that I don’t like crème br?lée—once you get through the crunchy topping, it’s just wobbly grossness in a spoon.”
When they got back to the house, Izzy turned to go up the staircase.
“I’ll put the ice cream away and order the food,” Beau said. “Just come down to the TV room whenever you’re ready.”
She nodded and ran up the stairs, but Beau stopped her when she was halfway up.
“Wait, Izzy—we didn’t decide what to order!”
She turned around. “I trust you. Order all the good stuff.” She started back up the stairs, and then turned around again. “You were right. We needed a break today. I needed a break today. It was a tough work week and, well…thanks for suggesting it. And for the surfing lesson.”
He looked up at her, a smile on his face. “You’re welcome. And thank you. I hadn’t gone surfing in…a while. It felt really good.”
They smiled at each other, and then Izzy walked very slowly up the stairs. Her legs hurt, too? Why did her legs hurt this much?
After they were settled in the TV room, in comfortable clothes, with wine in front of them and with more Thai food than Izzy had ever seen in one place in her life, Beau nudged her.