Once Upon a Date - Susan Hatler Page 0,21
for his backpack. Pulling out a turquoise blanket, he handed it to me.
“I thought you might be cold, so I brought this,” he said.
My stomach fluttered. For a moment, I wondered why this couldn’t be real. Sigh. But I tried to hide my feelings. I smiled, taking the lightweight blanket gratefully and wrapping it around my shoulders, noting that it was big enough for two.
Brooks picked up the oars and began rowing again, singing quietly as he did. “It don’t take a word, not a single word, go on and kiss the girl . . .”
The corners of my mouth curved upward. “The Little Mermaid?”
He laughed. “Well, it felt like a Disney moment.”
“Ah, but is it in my book?”
He shook his head. “Nope, just using a little artistic license. Okay, so back to the script.”
I thought for a moment. “Well, I think it’s about now that our hero realizes that he’s met the girl of his dreams.”
Brooks held my gaze for longer than was necessary, and without looking away he said, “I think you might be right. But doesn’t she realize that he’s her . . . what do you call him in the book? Her perfect beau, too?”
My cheeks heated at the sweet but old-fashioned phrase, which I loved. When I wrote the book I hadn’t realized that my ex-boyfriend and thus-far love of my life would be reading it. “In the book, yes, she does realize that.”
A small look of disappointment crossed his face, making my eyebrows come together.
“So, what’s for lunch?” He nodded at the picnic basket, one I had searched all over the city to find in order to keep the details as close to the story as possible. It was a traditional wicker basket. The lid opened to reveal a pair of pretty plates, blue and white bone china, of course, along with two of everything else, including a couple of glasses.
“Bread, cheese, smoked sausage, olives, and, um . . .” I mentally went through my shopping list from the day before. “Sun dried tomatoes, hummus, strawberries, oh, and a bottle of wine. And, lastly . . .” I pulled out a corkscrew from my tote. “Ta-da!”
He gave me a side-glance as he rowed. “I’m impressed. You really have thought of everything. In fact, there’s only one thing missing.”
My heart skipped a beat as I realized he was back on script. “Oh, and what’s that?”
He leaned forward, just as he’d done on the fire escape at Krista’s, and lightly pressed his lips to mine. My belly did a little flip and my lips warmed until he abruptly pulled away.
“Oh, no!” he exclaimed.
I opened my eyes. “Oh, no, huh?”
“Hold on tight, Michelle. This is going to get bumpy!”
I frowned. “Well, I wouldn’t say that, I mean . . . we rarely even argued when we dated before.”
“Seriously, Michelle. Just hold on!”
I looked up in time to see a motorboat zoom past us, leaving wave after wave in its wake—waves which were heading right for our boat.
For some reason unknown to man, I panicked and stood up. The blanket Brooks had given to me fell around my feet and the boat swayed violently. Then Brooks stood, too, holding out his hand to steady me. But as I took a step toward him, my foot caught in the blanket and I tripped, the entire world standing still for a second as I fell sideways. Brooks’ horrified expression was the last thing I saw before I splashed unceremoniously into the water. When I resurfaced, rubbing my eyes, Brooks’ expression went from horror to amusement in a split second.
He held his hand out. “Let me help you.”
“No, I can do this. I don’t need help.” I spluttered, ignoring his hand and grabbing hold of the side of the boat.
“Michelle, wait, no. Don’t grab the—” The rest of the word was drowned out, quite literally, as Brooks landed with a splash beside me, and the boat flipped over sending my picnic basket into the river.
Out of nowhere, a clap of thunder heralded the arrival of the rain, which was when I noticed that the fluffy white clouds from earlier were now ominously heavy and gray. I knew Brooks was a good swimmer, so I wasn’t worried about him, but I was a bit worried about how he would react to me dunking him in the river.
He surfaced, rubbed his eyes and stared at me for what felt like a full minute before swimming the few feet toward me. Treading water, I