Surprise!

Chapter 5Surprise!

Heron~Like a besotted fool, I had spent all week messaging Eliza, and even sending her pictures of me at the stadium, during the matches. I’d wanted her to feel comfortable meeting me, and I’d wanted her to know that it really was me in every single one of those pictures. Even though we were meeting at Chloe’s in broad daylight, I could still be a scammer trying to steal her life savings.People were horrible.With my heart in my throat, I watched as Eliza walked into the café, and she looked every bit as beautiful as she did on her shows. Her auburn-colored hair was thrown up in a bun again, her face looked free of makeup, and she’d dressed casually, though there wasn’t anything casual about those fucking curves of hers. Without that damn kitchen island in the way, I could finally see the woman from head to toe, and it was a shame that she had to wear clothes in public.I stood up as she approached our table awkwardly. Eliza had a smile on her face, but it was easy to tell that she was nervous, and I didn’t blame her. Hell, I’d been the one to initiate this meeting, and I was nervous.“Hello,” I said as I reached over to pull out her chair.She looked a bit surprised. “Oh…uhm, hello.”Once she was seated, I sat back down in my chair. “I waited to order,” I informed her.Her russet-colored eyes looked like a mixture of a million different shades of chocolate. “I usually order the grilled chicken salad and peppermint tea for lunch. I don’t eat here often, but when I do, I never go wrong with their salads.” She leaned in conspiratorially. “They’re supposed to be healthy, but they put way too much chicken in the salad for it to be healthy. Plus, they have every dressing under the sun here, so by the time I’m done drowning the salad in calories, I might as well have ordered a cheeseburger.” She shrugged, and I was pretty sure there went my heart.“I’m usually on a strict diet while the season is going,” I told her. “While I eat a lot of calories, they’re healthy ones.”“Well, I can-”“Let me go place our orders, then I’ll be right back,” I said, interrupting her, hoping that she wasn’t the type of woman that insisted on paying. While I understood it, I had invited her to meet me, so it stood to reason that I’d pay.“Oh, okay,” she replied softly, smiling at me.Making my way over to the counter, I had to will my dick to go down. We weren’t here for that, much to his dismay. It wasn’t easy to balance respect for women with wanting them, but I tried. If we respected them too much, then we friend-zoned ourselves. If we didn’t respect them enough, then we were assholes. The balancing act was doubly hard when you weren’t sure what type of woman you were dealing with. Did she want you pulling her chair out for her, or was she going to feel undermined because she could do it herself? It was hard to tell nowadays.After placing our orders and paying, I headed back towards our table, taking my seat, and the fact that she hadn’t been scrolling through her phone was another plus on my list. I couldn’t think of anything ruder than being on your phone, giving off the impression that you’d rather be doing something else.“I forgot to ask what kind of dressing you liked,” I said as I sat down.“I like Thousand Island,” she replied, still grinning. “Hence, all the calories.”“I’ll make sure to grab some when they call our order,” I assured her.“Thank you.”“You’re welcome.”Normally, this would be where things got awkward, but Eliza quickly avoided that by asking, “So, why do you want to come on my show? You said that you’d explain in person.”“You’re very straightforward, aren’t you?”“I’m not a fan of clutter,” she replied in way of an explanation.“Clutter?”“When people don’t communicate clearly, it causes clutter,” she clarified. “It causes all kinds of a jumbled mess when people aren’t direct with one another. Assumptions start to being made, untrue scenarios start to form, and then there’s nothing but a cluttered mess of emotions and confusion because of all the hemming and hawing.” Eliza leaned back in her seat. “I prefer to be direct if possible.”“When would you consider it not possible?”“When it might hurt someone’s feelings for no reason,” she answered. “I think it’s okay to have difficult conversations with someone, even if it hurts their feelings, if it’s part of the path to a solution. However, if you’re speaking just to be mean, then that kind of honesty has no value in it.”The more that Eliza Dodger spoke, the harder that I was falling for the woman. She really was a breath of fresh air, and I loved the simplicity of her logic. Not a lot of people subscribed to her point of view on communication, and it was a shame because the world would be a lot nicer place without all the ‘clutter’.“Like I mentioned earlier, I’m suffering from insomnia at the moment,” I said, finally answering her question. “I was looking for things to either entertain me or put me to sleep, and your second episode popped up on one of my social media feeds.”Eliza winced. “How unfortunate for you.”I grinned. “I disagree,” I chuckled. “I saw a person that wasn’t afraid to fail, and that intrigued me. Most vloggers edit their videos before posting them, so that all everyone sees is the perfection of their creations, but not you. Even knowing that you might not end up producing the perfect product, you still aren’t afraid to try, and that’s very…rare.” I cocked my head to the side a bit. “In a world where all everyone cares about is image and projecting their perfect lives, you’re inviting people to get to know the real you, and that’s commendable, Eliza.”“I started it as a side gig to help me save up for a house,” she replied, ignoring every compliment that I’d just thrown her way. “I work as a medical data clerk, and though the pay is decent, there’s not a whole lot left over to really pad my savings account.”“Buying a house is a lot more noble reason for making videos than fame,” I pointed out.“It’s still a selfish reason,” she said, shrugging a shoulder. “It’s not like I started the channel to change the world.”“Baby, it’s okay to be selfish,” I told her. “It’s okay if you’re not changing the world.”“Says the firefighter,” she snorted, making me grin.*****Eliza~Before I could stick my other foot in my mouth, Heron’s name was being called out, our order ready. As he got up to go grab our food, I couldn’t help but feel giddy over him calling me baby. Though stupid and presumptuous, I couldn’t remember the last time that a guy had called me something sweet. Granted, being a professional athlete and a sexy firefighter, he might call all women baby, but I found myself hoping that wasn’t the case. Like a putz, I also noticed that he didn’t wear a wedding ring, though that didn’t really mean anything these days.When Heron returned with our food, he placed the tea, salad, and dressing right in front of me, then asked, “Did I miss anything?”I smiled up at him. “Nope. It’s perfect.”Looking over at his lunch, Heron had ordered himself a club sandwich, the house salad, and he was drinking water, which made sense. I imagined that he had to spend most of his life hydrated with how taxing both of his jobs were.“So, you’re trying your hand at influencing to save up for a house,” he remarked.I grimaced. “I hate that word.”Heron’s lips twitched. “What word? Influencing?”I nodded. “It sounds just so damn egotistical, don’t you think?” I pursed my lips in thought. “Like…what makes me so damn special that I could ‘influence’ anyone to do anything? Apart from real celebrities, what kind of person thinks they’re so fabulous that millions of strangers are going to want to follow what they do and emulate them?”“You don’t see what you’re doing in the same light?” he asked, but not unkindly.Pouring the dressing all over my salad, I answered, “Not at all. I’m not trying to get people to wear my clothes or copy my hairstyle. I’m not trying to become famous.”“Baby, I hate to break it to you, but if you end up getting the following that you’re looking for, then you’re going to end up semi-famous.”My stomach tightened at that word again. “Maybe,” I conceded. “But I still don’t feel like I’m trying to influence anyone to do anything. I view my channel as more of a sitcom than anything else. I’m not peddling anything, I’m simply…I’m in front of the camera for entertainment purposes only.”Deciding against playing semantics, Heron asked, “So, why baking when you’re no good at it?”My fork stopped midway to my mouth as my eyes rounded at him. Most people would never think to say such a thing to a complete stranger, but not Heron Treyton. Now, while most women would have gotten their feelings hurt just then, I wasn’t one of those women. I appreciated the truth.I started laughing when Heron winked at me.After eating my forkful, I confessed my ignorance. “I underestimated bakers,” I admitted. “I watched a bunch of videos, and since they’d been edited before posted, they’d all looked so easy, and I really do owe bakers around the world an apology.” I shrugged. “I had chosen something that looked simple, and I’d gotten a very valuable lesson in life, instead of a million followers.”“Why live?” Heron asked between his bites of food.“Because I want my episodes to be real,” I answered. “Having made a huge mistake with my own misconceptions, I want people to see the process unedited and not just the final product.”“Why so late at night?”“I work during the day, so by the time I’ve run all my errands, get home, eat dinner, and all that other life stuff, it’s pretty late.”We ate in silence for a while before he asked, “So, were you serious about inviting people onto your show?”I eyed him. “Not really,” I replied honestly. “I’d just been grasping at straws, and I also have a bad habit of thinking out loud.” I grimaced a bit. “It’s not always ideal.”He didn’t say anything for a bit. He just regarded me with those emerald-colored eyes of his. Heron Treyton really was a sexy sonofabitch, and I could only imagine what he thought of me right now. While I wasn’t completely insane, I could probably rein it in a little bit. My mind was always filled with grand ideas, and that’s probably why my job bored me so damn much.After a bit, he said, “I’d really like to come on your show, Eliza. I think it’d be fun.”My eyes narrowed a bit. “Not that I’m your mother, but shouldn’t you be trying to find a solution to your insomnia? I mean, not sleeping is a very serious thing. How in the hell do you think I made the mistake of grabbing salt when the sugar and salt packaging is very different?”Heron’s lips twitched again. “Yeah, I’d been wondering about that.”“Salt comes in a round carton, Heron,” I stated firmly, even though he already knew that. “Sugar comes in a bag.” I shook my head. “Still, I’d been tired enough not to feel the difference when I had set all the ingredients out.”“If it’s any consolation, tired or not, you still look beautiful on camera,” he said, making my stomach tighten again.“I look like a fool on camera,” I snorted, ignoring his compliment because I wasn’t really good at receiving them. “Who can’t tell the difference between salt and sugar?” I shook my head again.Letting me get away with another one, he said, “What are you thinking of trying next? If the baking doesn’t work out?”“I don’t know,” I muttered. “I started watching those rug cleaning reels, but that equipment looks expensive.”“You don’t cook?”“I do, but it’s easier to find a home for too much baked goods than it is for leftover food,” I answered. “I’m not a fan of wasting food. I mean, I could always donate it to a shelter, but because of unknown allergies and whatnot, they won’t always take homecooked meals.”“How about you make it a variety show?” Heron suggested. “Hit a different hobby each week, maybe.” He leaned onto the table. “You might even turn it into a…I don’t know, like…let’s see how hard it is to make a cake, paint a bird, crochet a coaster…stuff like that.”I eyed him. “That’s actually not a bad idea. Kind of…beginners unite sort of thing.”“Then that’s settled,” he said. “We’ll give baking one more shot, and if it doesn’t work out, then you can announce your new venture.”My brows rose. “We?”Heron winked at me again. “We.”“I’m not sure how I feel about a strange man coming to my apartment late at night,” I said, watching for his reaction.“If I were a strange man, I could see your concern. However, I’m not,” he replied smoothly.Yeah, I was in trouble.