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“Will do,” Kayla says as she heads out the door. “Thanks again, Piper.”

“Well?” I ask Noah as we walk to his SUV. “Was it too painful?”

“What?”

“Smiling for an hour straight.”

He rubs a hand over his mouth. “So that’s why my jaw is aching.”

“Thank you for coming with me.”

“The night is still young, and we haven’t eaten. Should we get dinner?”

“Like a friend-date?”

He gives me a stern look. “Like a real date.”

I grin, looping my arm through his. “Yeah, okay.”

It’s already beena long day, so we pick up Chinese takeout and eat it in the park. It’s a nice evening, and families are out enjoying the long summer hours. There are other couples, too, some returning from riding the paved riverfront trail, others prepping their bikes to head out. Others hang out at the picnic tables, like Noah and me.

Noah peers at my stir-fried vegetables and makes a face.

“You don’t like tofu?” I choose a piece with my wooden chopsticks. “I guess you can’t eat it, though.”

“Even before I entered the final stage, I didn’t like tofu.”

I chew thoughtfully and then take a sip of my soda. “Did you ever try it?”

He grins, taking a piece of char siu from his own takeout container. “That’s not important.”

I frown at his Chinese barbequed meat. “Do you miss rice at all?”

“I used to get lo mein. I miss that, yeah.”

“What was your standard order before…you know?”

“Sweet and sour chicken, lo mein, and wonton soup.”

“I’ve never had wonton soup.”

He lifts his eyebrows. “Never?”

“I like vegetarian egg drop.”

“No,” he laughs as if disgusted, drawing out the word. “I was wrong—we might not work.”

“Egg drop soup is a deal breaker?”

The setting sun is at a blinding angle, but it washes him in warm light, turning his tanned skin golden. He’s rolled the sleeves of his button-up work shirt to his elbows again, looking ridiculously hot.

“I might make an exception for you.” He looks up at me, his honey eyes warm, and smiles.

My heart dances. I think of the kiss in his office, the way he claimed me as his girlfriend.

Don’t let him get away.

I pull my eyes back to my dinner. “This is nice.”