World renowned writer, Molly Tulip, moves up to Northern Montana, hoping to escape the busy city life and a cheating ex. After years of stress and toxicity from her previous relationship, Molly needs to focus on healing herself through her writing...
"Well that was quite the adventure." I can finally breathe and feel my heart rate start to slow down from all the anxiety and excitement I had been feeling while in the room. I swear that was the fastest hour of my entire life. It truly felt amazing to throw myself into something fun and forget all the worries that had been plaguing my mind. "I really needed that, thank you Carver." I glance over at him and I see he's grinning from ear to ear.
"I'm glad you had fun! I still can't believe this was your first time doing something like this." He's been mentioning this the whole time since I let it slip while we were filling out the liability forms. "You were amazing with solving those puzzles, I hope you know that."
"Well the Nakamoto's took on the really hard puzzles, so I felt less pressured and was able to have more fun. You definitely need to have a large group in order to beat that." I say, casually redirecting the focus off of me. I know that Carver notices, but he doesn't say anything further about my amazing problem solving abilities.
"Well I'm starved. All that thinking really built up my appetite." Carver pats his tummy.
"Oh, is this the part of the evening where we actually go get dinner?" My stomach has been growling since Carver picked me up earlier and the thought of food hadn't left my mind since.
"Someone's a little hangry." Carver teases as he swings the passenger door open for me and I climb into his massive truck.
"I was promised dinner, wasn't I?" I say when he hops into the driver's seat.
Carver rolls his eyes, "I promised you a surprise, but yes, I did ask you out for dinner initially." As if right on queue, my stomach lets out a deafening grumble and my hands shoot to my gut. "Let's get you some grub, Miss Hangry."
"Okay, this was the best pizza I've ever tasted." I push my empty plate towards the middle of the table and with a satisfied sigh I lean back in my chair. "And that's a lot coming from a girl that lived in New York for eight years. Granted, NY isn't known for their gluten free options, but there were definitely some up and coming parlors making killer wheat-free dough."
"What did I tell you? MacKenzie's knows how to do it right." Carver brushes an imaginary chip off his shoulder as he bites into the last slice of his gluten-filled pizza. I can feel happiness radiating off of my tummy and it makes me smile.
"I don't know how I lived before tasting this food." I say more to myself than Carver. I see a sly smile creep into the corners of his mouth.
"Well, we might just have to make this a weekly thing." Carver says casually and my the butterfly's inside me erupt. "It's always good to have a friend to try new places with." And as soon as the butterflies appeared they were gone with that dreaded word. Friend. My mouth refused to form any words so the only response I could give Carver was a gentle head nod. So this was just a friend thing after all. My heart sinks down into my stomach and the pizza starts to not taste as amazing as it was before.
The awkward silence is briefly filled by the waitress coming by and dropping the check off. I reach for the little tray the check is sat on top of, so that I can pay for my half, but Carver quickly grabs it from underneath my hand. My eyes shoot up to him in concern but he just smiles at me.
"It's my treat. You put up with my escape room shenanigans and it's the least I can do when taking a girl out on a date." He watches my reaction closely as I turn cherry red with embarrassment. At this point I haven't spoken a word in over three minutes, he's dropped the friend bomb then proceeds to drop the date bomb right afterwards, I don't know how to act.
Is he trying to make me an emotional wreck with all this uncertainty?
Carver can see the confusion in my eyes and quickly adds, "Or, it's not a date!"
Oh, he means a date date. Like the kind where he's potentially romantically interested in me.
He laughs nervously, "Sorry I assumed that! I know you and your ex just broke up so you probably need time before you start dating again." He continues to ramble and apologize until my mouth finally breaks it's spell of silence and I interject.
"Carver, you're fine!" I exclaim. He's eyes grow huge as his mouth stops moving. I sit there for a moment before thinking of what I'm going to say to him. I can see the longer I wait, the more antsy and defeated he looks. "I didn't realize this was a date." His eyes lower and he starts playing with the corner of the check's paper printout. He pulls out his wallet and plops his credit card on top of the check and we both watch it be ferried away by the waitress.
"Not that I'm opposed to this being a date." I say once the server is out of ear shot. "I was actually trying to gauge whether or not you were interested in me, because I'm interested in you, Carver." I listen to the words fly out of my mouth, having no control of the deep, personal truths that I'm sharing with this man I've only known for a week. I watched his face light up and the worry creases that were bogging down his handsome face disappear. We must have both been trying to reach out, silently, to one another this whole night while not letting our guard down for fear of rejection.
"I'm very interested in you, Molly. You're the first woman that I've felt comfortable being myself around in a very long time." He reaches across the table and scoops my hands into his. My hands feel tiny in comparison to his and I can already feel the warmth from his palms start to absorb into my freezing fingers. "I'm sorry for not clarifying what I was hoping tonight would be, but I would like to take you out again, this time on an official date."
"How are you going to top an escape room and MacKenzie's?" I tease him, the tension that we were feeling earlier now gone.
"Oh, you'll see." He winks and my stomach erupts in a storm of butterflies once again.
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