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All three of us balk.

“You live in Ottawa, and you’ve never had a Beavertail?” Lydia demands.

“Like, not even on a field trip?” Ty asks when Kenzie shakes her head.

I can tell she’s uncomfortable from the way she’s shifting on the bench beside me with her arms wrapped around her stomach.

“Two of the lemon then, Lydia,” I say. “Thanks. I’ll give you some cash when my hands are a little less frozen.”

Ty and Lydia take off after that, their hands linked as they skate up to the line.

“Sorry about that. They didn’t mean anything. They just—”

“I know,” Kenzie cuts me off. “It’s okay. Also, I’ll give her some cash too.”

“You don’t have to—”

“I will.”

I watch her for a moment, searching for some clue to bring her back from wherever she’s gone in her head, before I nod. “Okay.”

She stares over at the line of chattering people for a few seconds before she sighs.

“Sorry. I know I get...weird sometimes, but I’m having a really great time. Really. I’m...I’m glad you invited me. Thanks.”

The wings attached to my heart beat extra fast. “I’m glad I invited you too.”

“Moira...” My breath catches when she rests her hand on my thigh under the table. “I don’t really know what’s going on here...with us...but I still want to go on another date with you. A real one. I just...whatever this is, I have to take it one step at a time. This is all so complicated, so that’s all I can give you, and I’d get if it isn’t enough.”

Her voice cracks, and before I know it, I’ve whipped my glove off so I cradle her cheek in my hand.

“Hey. Look at me.”

After a moment of staring down at the table, she does.

“One step at a time sounds pretty great to me.”

Her bottom lip drops open, and her eyes flood with hope. “Yeah?”

I nod. “Yeah.”

Before I can overthink it, I lean in towards her lips. She meets me halfway and presses hers to mine.

CHAPTER 17

MOIRA

I spread a white linen cloth over the flimsy metal bistro table I pilfered from my family’s backyard and smooth a few wrinkles out before I start pulling supplies out of the grocery bag sitting on the floor of Studio B.

In a typical move for me and Kenzie, the entire premise of our official second date is based on a competition.

Kenzie originally suggested a restaurant that specializes in wine and dessert pairings. I joked about her letting someone else handle getting the brownies out of the pan. She told me she could bake brownie circles around me any day. I told her that didn’t make any sense but that I wouldn’t bring the Murray brownie making prowess into question if I were her.

So here I am, filling up a glass display plate with the brownies I spent my whole afternoon making while waiting for Kenzie to show up with hers.

Somewhere along the line, a perfect wine pairing became part of the brownie competition requirements. After I’ve finished my plating, I set four wine glasses up on the table and fill two of them with the crimson cabernet sauvignon I brought along.

I’m hoping the brief Google search I did for ‘wine to go with brownies’ hasn’t led me astray; I know nothing about wine.