Page 18

Simon lifted a hoodie from a peg on the wall and pulled it over his head. In giant green letters across the chest, “Boston.” I had found the most handsome flatlander of them all. Julie gave us a nonchalant wave as I jumped off the couch, and we left the house.

“So, where can we get some food?” he asked.

I raised an eyebrow. “At this hour? I assumed you were cooking.”

“I wouldn’t mind, but I thought it’d be nice to talk and let somebody else do the work.”

“You know it’s after eight.” Under the porch light, his head leaned to the side, confused by the statement. “City boy, all of Firefly shuts down at eight. There won’t be a single store open.”

“Oh. Sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I should have asked.” He grew cuter as the fluster set in. I gave him a kiss on the cheek. He stared off into the yard. He stroked his beard while he thought. “Want to go for a stroll?”

For him, I’d ignore the rumbling in my belly. I could always make some Mac and cheese when I got home. I offered him my elbow as if we were making a grand entrance. Without missing a beat, he hooked his arm with mine, and we were off, walking across the yard.

When we reached the street, he veered us to the right.

We were only a couple of blocks from downtown.

It made sense to head toward the center of town.

The side streets were lucky if they had a working streetlight.

At least around the green, we’d be able to see more than five feet in front of our faces.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” he started. “Why did you come back to Firefly after college?”

He skipped the formalities and went to the big question. As of late, I had been asking myself the same. Once I graduated, I could have gone anywhere, but something about Firefly drew me back. Once lured, it seemed leaving was damned near impossible.

“My family is kind of weird when it comes to Firefly. My great-grandmother was born here. But my mom’s parents were born in Connecticut, and my mom in California. Me? I’m a birther. Born and raised. Other than school, this is home.”

“Ever think of leaving?”

I hid my surprise. His hand slid down my arm until he held my hand. I didn’t want to spoil a perfectly good evening by revealing how much I thought about leaving. I didn’t want Simon to think his courting efforts were being wasted.

“It’s crossed my mind. Mostly because college proved there’s more to life than Firefly. I’d be happy if this could be homebase between my travels to exotic locations.”

“How exotic?”

“One time in high school, the French class went to Quebec City.” I shrugged. “I’m pretty sure that makes anywhere exotic.”

“Tu parles francais?”

“You speak French?” I shouldn’t be surprised. What couldn’t this man do?

“A chef I worked for was from Paris. I had to learn so I knew why he was yelling at me.”

“That sounds… hostile.”

“It’s the kitchen life.”

“I only took the class for the trip. Quebec City is beautiful. I think if I could go anywhere, I’d want it to be old. There’s something nifty about modern people living in these historic locations.”

“The comic shop in the mill is making sense.”

I hadn’t given it any thought. The mills were the oldest buildings in Firefly.

I always enjoyed seeing the giant red brick structures when I drove into town.

Even now, I could see the top of the buildings coming into view.

It did indeed make sense. I got to run my shop in the oldest building in town.

Something about that realization made me smile.

“Greece? Italy? Could see a castle or two outside of London.”

He dropped the names as if it were as simple as getting online and booking a hotel.

Maybe? I wouldn’t know. Living this far north, things got complicated.

Driving to the airport could take a couple hours, then hopping a plane depended on the weather.

The moment I thought of all the moving parts, I had to ask myself if the hassle was worth the reward?

“Iceland.” The word surprised even me.

“Really? Not what I thought you’d say.”

“It’s kind of like Maine. It’s cold as hell for half the year. Bar Harbor is filled with fishermen, so it’s kind of the same.”

“But different,” he said.

“Yeah. It’d be like a warped mirror. Don’t forget they live on a volcano. I kind of want to see a volcano.”

Truthfully, I’d be happy seeing any part of the world.

Short vacations would scratch my itch for something more.

When I got tuckered out and visited all the tourist destinations, then I could come back to Firefly.

It’d be the best of both worlds. Culture and comfort, that’s the life I wanted to lead.

We stood at the south side of the green, able to look at the length of the park.

Black poles reached upward, each holding a lantern with a flickering bulb.

I hadn’t wandered around downtown at night in years.

Without the many characters of Firefly, the town had a beautiful peace to it.

I almost expected it to snow just to complete the small-town charm.

“Australia.”

The word broke my reverie. I turned my attention to Simon.

“Really?” It was on the other side of the planet.

My brain barely accepted it as a reality.

I had never met somebody from Australia, and other than movies, I knew nothing about the country.

I loved Firefly, but there were entire worlds outside our borders.

“Why Australia?” I asked.

Simon took my hand as we crossed the street.

We followed a winding path in the green, peppered with street lights.

We could have walked through the park in a matter of minutes, but we moved at a snail’s pace.

I didn’t want to reach a destination and have that be the end of the night.

My pace slowed as I tried to drag out the evening.

“I almost moved there when I was younger. A chef I worked for had opened a restaurant and offered me a job. I couldn’t bring myself to uproot my entire life and move.”

“You want to find out if you made the right choice?”

“Restaurants are a brutal business. He didn’t make it three years. No doubt about it, I made the right choice. But I still wonder, what if? I figure I owe it to myself to close some doors and say I did it.”

“I want to see a koala in the wild.”

He chuckled at the statement. “When Lucas is a little older, it’ll happen.” He bumped into me. “I wouldn’t mind some company.”

Were we making plans for years down the road? Or was this one of those polite things people said and never expected to happen? Either way, I grinned. Simon thought about a future with me? It shook the chill from my body and warmed my heart.

“Why did you leave Boston? I’m sure you could have been a dad in the city.”

The question had been on my mind. I knew he wanted more time with Lucas, but he could do that anywhere. There had to be more to the story. Everybody who found themselves in Firefly had a story that brought them here. Sharing was the price of admission.

“Lucas, you know about. Have you watched a lot of chef shows?”

I shook my head.

“The nicer the restaurant, the more intense the kitchen. I tried not to yell like in the shows… but… tempers flare. Even on our best nights, it always felt like we had gone to war and come back battered. The hours were miserable, and what little time I got to spend with Lucas, I felt like I fell short.”

I squeezed his hand. “From where I’m standing, you’re shooting for the Dad-of-the-Year award.”

“I feel calmer. I’m still in the kitchen, but right now, it’s just me. I’m the king of the castle. I’m still exhausted when we close, but it’s from a hard day’s work. I still have the energy to be the dad Lucas deserves.”

“He’s a lucky kid.”

“I’m a lucky dad.”

He slowed his pace. Pulling at my arm, we took a side path that’d lead us to… Bistro on Maine? I felt that my partner in crime had conspired without me.

“What’s going on?”

He smiled. “I promised you dinner. Dammit, you’re getting dinner.”

Simon shot me a mischievous smirk. I would have followed him to the ends of the Earth, or at least to Australia.

“Why cooking?”

I waved my hand over the dancing flame. The Bistro on Maine was pitch black except for a single candle in the middle of the table.

When I went to flip on the lights, he caught my hand, saying he had something more romantic in mind.

He claimed the vanilla scent would open my senses to his culinary masterpiece.

I called hogwash, but it was still romantic.

“Cooking is an experience. I don’t know how, but I’m good at it. So why not share my gift with the world?”

“That’s why you do it now . Why did you do it at the beginning ?”

He pushed the swinging door open, the light flooding the dining room. In the silhouette, I couldn’t see his face, but I expected him to shoot me some over-the-top tale.

“Honestly, I’m not sure.”

He ducked back into the kitchen, the door swinging back and forth. I hadn’t expected confusion. He struck me as a man who did everything with purpose. I appreciated the honesty. Simon continued to teach me that not all of us have an origin story at a young age.

“When I was a kid, I had difficulty connecting with people.”

I smiled as I picked up the candle, swirling the warm wax around the edges.

It made sense. Now, I understood his approach with Lucas.

Their challenges with other kids might be different, but it sounded as if he channeled that into his role as a dad.

With each additional layer revealed, I found myself more fascinated.

“You’re going to need to explain.”

There was a silence other than metal smacking against metal in the kitchen. My stomach rumbled as I imagined what delicacies he had prepared. Right now, I’d be happy with a granola bar. That’s when I knew I was ravenous.