Mistletoe Magic (Paradise Place #6) - Natalie Ann Page 0,9
life. Move around. I always felt like the odd person out because I enjoyed being comfortable.”
Alex had hated that about her. He was always encouraging her to plan vacations and go on trips. Not even with him, but with her friends. He’d said he’d pay for it all. Now she suspected it was to get her out of town.
No, not going to think of her dickhead ex while she was spending time with someone else.
“I don’t mind going on a vacation or trying new things, but the truth is, I’ve got a business to run and I’ve had to put a lot of time into it. You could say some women don’t like that so much.”
“I understand. Alex hated the time I spent at the animal shelter, but when I argued he was always working, it seemed to fall on deaf ears.” She put her hand over her mouth. “Sorry. I need to stop talking about him and I sure the heck don’t want to compare him to anyone.”
“No comparison. I can assure you there.”
She smiled, relaxing a bit more. “Good to know. So, do you like shrimp? Since you brought this lovely wine, I could cook with it and make a nice scampi. We could have a glass. Or are you going to make me be the loser who drinks by herself on her deck at night?”
“I think I can choke down a glass with dinner.” He held up the box of chocolates. “And we’ve got dessert. Guess this worked out better than I thought it would.”
“Then here’s to a nice night of conversation in my new house.”
“I can drink to that,” he said.
4
Challenging Myself
The two of them had been chatting back and forth and before they realized it, it was four thirty. “Can I help you with dinner?” he asked. “I actually like to cook.”
“That would be nice. You can de-vein the shrimp.”
He laughed. “Oh, you mean I get the job of cleaning out the poop shoot?”
She giggled and he found it endearing. She hadn’t laughed much, he’d noticed, when they’d been around each other. Probably because there wasn’t much in her life that was happy back then.
“Well, you asked if you could help. That would be pretty helpful.”
They stood up and went into the kitchen. He liked the amount of room there was to work. She pulled the shrimp from the fridge and then gave him the bag and a bowl.
He moved to the sink. “Do you have a small paring knife for me to get into the vein and flick it out?”
“That’s how I do it too,” she said, opening two drawers like she was trying to figure out where everything was and then handing that over too.
While he cleaned the shrimp, Robin pulled out a garlic bulb and started to peel and then smack it with the side of her knife. “You know what you’re doing,” he said. “I just take garlic out of a jar.”
“I’ve done that before too, but I enjoy challenging myself now. Not that this is a challenge.”
“Did you take any cooking lessons or teach yourself? Your mother?” he asked. She was moving too efficiently around and she wasn’t that old. He’d seen her driver’s license. She’d just turned twenty-six recently.
“My mother taught me things. I guess I was home alone a lot during my marriage. I didn’t always like to go out but I enjoyed the food. I started to learn to make it myself.”
“That’s nice.” He almost said he was sure her ex appreciated it but caught himself in time. Talking about any ex was the way to ruin a date.
Not that this was a date, though it met the criteria of one.
“I know what you are thinking,” she said, smirking at him.
“What’s that?”
“That maybe Alex would have enjoyed that I did that for him? You can talk about him. Or not. I mean you’re the only one who knows what really happened. Well, not everything. No one knows everything.”
Which made him wonder what else she endured. He wouldn’t ask though. “I just thought if it were me, I’d love if my significant other made the effort for me.”
“He did enjoy it, when he was home. Which wasn’t often. He worked a lot and I understood that.”
No use saying that her ex was probably screwing around on her the entire time they were together. He’d bet any money on it. “So you ended up cooking for yourself then?” he asked.
“I did. I enjoy it. I know a lot of