5 Reasons To Love Again

Chapter 28

I looked up at Chase who was still talking to Axel. I was again thinking about how handsome he was. Axel was handsome too but I felt no interest in him that way. Chase saw me looking at him and then came over. I liked the fact that I didn't have to ask him to come to me, he already knew by just looking at me.
"Have you touched a shark yet?" he asked us.
Lexine shook her head no. "What about you Delphine?"
I shook my head too and said, "I'm a little scared to touch them. I keep thinking about their teeth."
Chase laughed a little and said, "OK scaredy cats. Let's do this together."
Axel came over to help Lexine touch one and Chase pulled me close to him at the edge of the pool. He put his hand over mine and into the water. I didn't feel so nervous about touching a shark as long as Chase was with me. I heard a little giggle and saw that Lexine had just touched one on the back. Axel was telling her what kind of shark she just touched. I looked up at Chase and he guided my hand over the back of a really small shark. The skin felt nothing like I had imagined. I smiled up at Chase in triumph, glad that I had touched one. He leaned down and kissed me again. I could get used to this! His lips parted slightly and his tongue touched my lips. I opened my mouth a little and his tongue slipped in to tangle with mine. I was a little unsure because Rick hadn't liked french kissing that much, so I felt unexperienced with this. Chase sensed my uncertainty and slowly coached me into using my tongue to kiss him back.
We heard a throat clear and ended the kiss. Looking over we saw Axel looking highly amused with Lexine.
"Forget that we were here?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No, just reminding you how it's done." Chase said with a grin.
I blushed and looked down. I had forgotten that they were there! I think that it was becoming slowly obvious to me that I had no self control around my guys.
Axel had to get back to his office and we needed to finish seeing the aquarium before lunch so Chase, Lexine and I left the exhibit and looked at different things before ending up in the gift shop. He bought Lexine a plush shark with felt teeth and a tee shirt for me that had a shark with a goofy grin on the front and the words, "Bite Me!" on the back. He made me promise to wear it in front of Preston.

Lunch was next on the agenda and I was looking forward to it. After we were seated in the restaurant, I inhaled the smell of all the food around and sighed in happiness.

"You have no idea how much I missed this!" I told him. "The part of Texas that I was in didn't have very much in Asian cuisine, so Korean food was out of the question. It was all steak, chili and Mexican food."

"Yeah, I couldn't survive there!" Chase said with a shudder.
"How did you discover Korean food?" I asked him.
"In med. school I had a classmate whose wife was Korean and they invited me over for dinner a few times and I just fell in love with it. I found this place a few years ago and I eat here when I can."
I opened the menu and found my favorite noodles with black bean sauce. It was Lexine's favorite too. I told Chase that her and I could share that dish since they usually come in a large amount. The waitress who looked to be about my age came by with a big smile for Chase. "Dr. Chase! I was wondering when you were coming in this week. Do you want your usual?" She flipped her long silky black hair over her shoulder. I recognized a flirty move when I saw one.
"I want to try the spicy pork this time Jenny." Chase said to her. And then he ordered the noodles for me and Lexine.
"Is this your relatives?" she asked him while she narrowed her dark eyes at me.
Before I could answer Chase told her that we were on a date. I saw the anger cross her face for a second before she forced a smile in his direction. She said that the side dishes and drinks would be there in a minute. She stalked away and I looked at Chase.
"She has a thing for you, you know."
"Jenny? Nah, maybe she did a while ago but she has a boyfriend now."
"Chase, trust me. She wants to date you."
"Well, that's too bad for her. I'm already spoken for." He smiled at me and reached for my hand. We held hands and then Lexine reached out her hand for his other one. We laughed and held hands for a minute until a different waitress came by with our various kimchis and vegetables in their little bowls. I opened my chopsticks and helped Lexine with hers.
"She knows how to use chopsticks already?" Chase asked looking impressed.
"Yes, I showed her how to hold them and she figured out how to use them on her own. I learned by my mom just handing them to me and said to keep trying...." My voice trailed off. I hadn't spoken about my mom in a few years. I didn't want to think about her right now. Lexine tugged on my arm pointing to the broccoli.
Chase gave me a warm smile and set the broccoli in front of her.
"A little girl who eats her vegetables! She deserves a treat later." he said to her. She smiled at him and continued to eat. Our food arrived a few minutes later carried by Jenny. She set the pork in front of Chase with a flourish and the bowl of noodles in front of me with the second bowl of sauce with a sneer on her face. Before Jenny could leave our table, he said, "Jenny, we decided to trade dishes. Can I have the noodles here please?" Jenny paled for a second and grabbed the noodles and sauce. "Oh!" She exclaimed. "I think that I just saw a fly land on these. Let me get you a new one!" and with that she rushed off.
I looked at Chase in surprise. "How did you know?"
He shrugged and told me, "I listened to what you said about her. I just had a feeling that she might have messed with your food."
"Oh, I wasn't sure if you believed me about her."
"I value your opinion Delphine. You saw something there that I missed. I'll always listen to what you have to say."
Jenny came back with new bowls. "Here you are Chase!" He had her set them down in front of me again.
"Oh, we decided not to switch after all." Chase said to her politely with no smile. Her face flushed to a dull red when she realized that he knew. She rushed away without another word. We were helped by a different woman for the rest of the meal.

I sat back in my chair. "Oh my God Chase. Thank you so much! You have no idea how much we enjoyed that!" Lexine nodded and patted her stomach. Chase looked happy and I felt my heart lift. The fact that he was happy made me happy too. He took care of the bill and ushered us out and back to the SUV.

"I was going to suggest a walk somewhere but you are in heels Delphine and we did plenty of walking in the aquarium. I don't want your feet getting too sore." he said to me.
"What if we just went to a park and sit on a bench while Lexine plays?" I suggested to him. He smiled and agreed. There was a park nearby and Lexine climbed and played with the other kids there while Chase and I sat on a bench and watched her. Since he was a doctor, I talked to him about her diagnosis of Selective Mutism and he was surprisingly knowledgeable about it. He said that he knew a great child Psychologist who would be willing to take on Lexine as a new patient. Without pressuring me, he just told me if I wanted he could get her an appointment. Since it was for Lexine and I trusted Chase, I agreed for her to see Dr. Pritchard.

We sat there for close to an hour chatting about our likes and dislikes and just getting to know each other a little better. Chase decided that it was time to go because he wanted to take us to get a treat. Lexine didn't argue with that and readily came along. It turns out that cupcakes are his weakness and he brought us to a cupcake boutique that had tons of them in all different flavors. Lexine chose the Oreo cookie cupcake and I wanted the lemonade flavored one. Chase got his favorite mocha and handful of other flavors to make an even dozen.

"Men are like children." he informed me. "If one of us gets a treat, the others will have tantrums if they don't have one as well. You should probably keep that in mind." I promised him that I would. Back in the car before he started the engine, Chase leaned over and kissed me again. "Mmmm...." he said. "As a doctor, I'm ordering a kiss a day for you!" I laughed and agreed.