揑t smells like forty-year-old cooking oil in here,?Ben says, leaning forward to avoid anyone hearing.
We share a sandwich and fries, and when we finally get outside, I turn to him. 揑 can抰 wait to get out of this town, Ben.?
He pulls me against him with a soft smile on his face. 揝o, life in a small town isn抰 everything you thought it would be??
揘o,?I say, laughing into his t-shirt. 揑t抯 so boring here. I抎 go crazy.?
His lips press to the top of my head. 揑 know,?he says. 揟hat抯 why I picked it.?
I blink. 揥hat??
His shoulders shake with silent laughter. 揟here抯 nothing wrong with my car. It抯 parked in back of the barbershop and we can leave right now. I just wanted you to get your whole Hallmark experience.?
揧ou棓 I sputter. 揃ut匢 can抰 believe匢 mean, how did you even know what the towns in those movies were like??
He shrugs. 揑t mattered to you, so I watched a few of them the last time you went back to visit your mom.?
I abandoned the Hallmark thing quite a while ago, but tears sting my eyes. 揑 can抰 believe you,?I say, and it comes out a little broken.
揇on抰 get me wrong匢 did a lot of fast-forwarding because they抮e ridiculously boring, but yeah.?He stops suddenly. 揂re you crying??
I nod and press my face to his shirt. 揟his was both the nicest and the cruelest thing anyone抯 done to me in a long time.?
揂my was in on it, by the way,?he says. 揊rom the coffee shop? I called her yesterday and asked her to be as nosy as possible.?
揂nd Julie??
He shakes his head. 揘o. She抯 just weird. But this whole trip has inspired me. I think I抳e got a movie we could pitch to Hallmark棓
揑t can抰 be about two lawyers. One of us needs to be a good person.?
He laughs. 揟hey can branch out this once. So, these two lawyers are crazy about each other and refuse to admit it until he fingers her in his office. And then he takes her away somewhere like Santa Barbara and proposes because they抮e too busy to go to Iceland.?
I fight a smile, my heart beating like a drum. 揘o one gets fingered in a Hallmark movie.?
揥hat about the rest of it??he asks, pulling me closer.
揧eah,?I whisper, as hope begins to expand in my chest. 揟he rest of it sounds pretty good. I抎 have hated Iceland.?
He laughs. 揑 know.?
All those dreams and plans I had were卬onsense. They were fantasies梩he more unlikely, the more impossible the better, because it kept me that much safer from having to contend with something real.
He rubs the back of his neck. 揝o,?he begins quietly, 搘e have a reservation in Santa Barbara if you抮e ready to go.?
He抯 so nervous. So sheepish. Just like he was his first day at FMG, trying to casually invite me to join him at the bar across the street.
I wrap my arms around his neck, my smile ridiculously wide. 揑抦 ready.?
Because something real is no longer terrifying. And I can抰 wait to say 搚es?to Ben Tate.
THE END