she especially enjoyed the popcorn. What was it about popcorn with a movie? About midway through the movie, Ben pressed "pause" to stop the movie and dried her feet before he saw to her blisters. He certainly liked to spoil her, she thought. But she was not going to complain.
They spent the rest of the afternoon snuggled up on the couch watching the rest of the movie. Then they followed that with a game of cribbage and a Seattle Mariners' game on the television. During the baseball game, he told her all of the finer points on baseball in between their on and off casual conversation on other topics. At one point, when Ben became excited at a triple play, Anne stared at his face and was struck by the strong feeling of affection that she felt while she watched him. She smiled at him tenderly. Later he argued with the umpire over a close play at home plate, and she laughed over his involvement in the game.
Midway through the game, Ben ordered a sausage and pepperoni pizza and a couple of beers that were delivered during the seventh inning stretch. They consumed the food and beer greedily and cheered on the Mariners to a tenth inning victory over the Detroit Tigers. When the game was finished, Ben turned off the television and stacked up all of their garbage and foot care products by the door.
"Admit it, you like baseball," he said as he sat back down next to her.
"I do like baseball. It's just a game that I prefer watching in the stadium instead of on T.V." she told him as he took her hand in his.
"Come back sometime, and I'll take you to a Mariners game." He stared straight ahead at the television screen. The room became silent, and she wondered if he was holding his breath. Was that his subtle way of saying he wanted to keep seeing her or just a casual comment people made all of the time? She just did not know.
"Maybe I will take you up on that." She spoke softly and watched him release a slow breath. Then he smiled and looked over at her before leaning in to give her a quick peck on her lips. She looked into his warm brown eyes and began to hope that he wanted the relationship to go beyond that week.
"I need to get some exercise," he said suddenly. "I’ve been sitting too long. Do you feel up to going for a walk?"
"I think so."
She put her socks and walking shoes back on and took his hand for him to pull her up off of the couch. Then he walked with her to the balcony and opened the door waiting for her to leave before he closed it. The sun was setting over the channel, but there still was enough light to see by, so they took off walking down the path to the dock. Holding hands, they walked down to the spot by the water they had stopped at two nights before. Ben sat on the tree trunk, then sat her down on his lap, and held her in the circle of his arms.
In silence they watched the sun finish setting over the water. The reds, oranges, and purples of the sky caught in the clouds giving the night sky a magical glow as the sun set behind Waldron Island. The colorful display was replaced by a dark sky filled with stars that twinkled down at them as if pin holes were made in a piece of paper and a light shown from behind. This was why you left the city, Anne thought. You just could not get sunsets like that unless you were outside of the city lights.
When the night bugs came out and started attacking them, Ben kissed her in a passionless meeting of their mouths that shook her more than a passionate kiss would have done. The sound of a fish breaking the surface of the water and the call of an owl went unnoticed. Standing up, Ben took her hand in his larger one and walked with her back to his suite. They walked in silence, neither speaking until the balcony door to his room was opened, and they were ready to walk inside. That’s when Ben stopped to look at her.
"Anne."
It was one word. Her name spoken as it was a question, a statement, a prayer. Anne took Ben’s hand and pulled him inside of the bedroom quietly then