Chapter Nine

It was date night, the night I'd been waiting for what felt like a gazillion years.

I'd been caught off guard when I walked past Elio one morning on my way to work. I said hello, just like I normally would, and he stopped me, asking if I had a minute. Of course I did. Even if I'd been running late, I'd have given him that.

"I've been meaning to catch up with you. I wanted to thank you for the picture."

It had been a spontaneous decision, drawing him a bunny and writing him a thank-you note. I'd been coloring when the idea hit me. I looked down and loved my little bunny in jams, and the first thing I thought was to share it with him. What better way than with a thank-you note.

"You can't thank people for a thank-you," I said, "otherwise we'll be having thank-yous forever."

It was a concept I struggled with as a six-year-old who loved to get mail. I wanted to respond to every single letter I got, including thank-yous from my grandparents for gifts, visits, etc.

"But it wasn't just a note, was it? You drew that for me?"

It was hardly what I'd call a masterpiece, but I had put in my best effort.

"You're welcome. I thought it was cute, and I wanted you to have it." Objectively, it was adorable.

He smiled sweetly, and I wanted to lean in and kiss those lips. It wasn't the first time, nor did I think it would be the last, that I felt such an urge. He was too darn kissable for his—make that, my own good.

"So anyway, I was wondering—and just to put it out there, you're under no obligation to say yes because I'm your landlord—but I was thinking maybe I could take you out to dinner on Friday."

"You mean like a date?" I asked.

"Not like a date—a date," he clarified.

"I thought you were… I…" Instantly I regretted starting the sentences. Obviously, if he was asking me out, he wasn't straight. Why would I mention my own conclusion jumping? "Please forget I said that—bi people exist. I should know, being one," I added. I leaned very heavily toward male companions, but I'd had a few long-term relationships with women in the past.

"Yeah, we do." He chuckled. "So, is that a yes or no?"

"Oh…oh! Sorry I was… Yes."

He looked at me, confusion on his face.

"That was a yes. That was definitely a yes. I would absolutely love to go on a date with you. So my answer is yes." Because nothing said keeping your cool as much as saying yes multiple times to one dinner invitation.

"I'm going to take that as a yes. Do you want to firm up plans now for times and places or just wing it on Friday?"

"I get out of work at four thirty, so any time after six should work. But maybe you could surprise me with where we go. I don't really know anything around here yet, so whatever I picked would be pretty iffy." It was one thing to try a random taco place because of an online review, but a date? I kind of wanted to be extra sure the place wasn't going to be gross. He would be able to accomplish that much better than I could.

"That sounds great. How about I pick you up at six thirty?" Before I could answer, he added, "You know, no need to rush—or seven if you prefer."

I didn't. I preferred six…or right now. I was already excited about going but opted to play it calm, cool, collected-ish. "I don't want to wait till seven." Tried and failed. Not calm and cool in the tiniest of bits. But it earned another smile, and that made it worth it.

"Six thirty would be great." He promised to get in touch with me ahead of time to finalize our plans, and I went off to work.

The rest of the week was dragging, dragging, dragging. Did I mention it dragged?

But the day was finally here. I was going on a date with Elio, my sexy landlord. He hadn't told me the name of the restaurant he'd picked out for us, citing it was a surprise. He did let me know casual dress was fine, which was good. I didn't really want to wear work clothes to a date. It would feel more like a work meeting than a date. And when I gave my closet a good look, it became very evident that I didn't have any nice clothes that weren't for work.

I opted to wear a button-up just in case the place was a little on the fancy side, and paired it with my favorite jeans. I contemplated some khakis to be a little more put together, but that felt like it was pushing the work vibe more than a date one. I wasn't sure where this was going to go between us, but I was really sure I didn't want it headed toward the this feels less like a date and more like business vibe territory.

I wanted tonight to be 100 percent date-like. Whatever that meant.

Elio picked me up exactly at six thirty. I opened the door with a smile, a little better dressed this time.

"You look handsome," he said, and held up a little bag with a cat pawprint on it.

"Is that for me?" I teased.

"Nope, it's for my favorite girl." He walked past me to Cat-terine, who was meowing for his attention. He pulled out a little ball with a bell in it and rolled it across the room. She barreled after it and started batting it around. He handed me the rest of the bag. "This is filled with them. The man at the store said that they will get lost a lot and then, once you have forgotten all about them, they'll be found in the middle of the night by your sweet kitty who will decide it's suddenly time to play. Basically, they'll only be found when you don't want them to be. You're welcome."

I could very much see that being the case. I put them under the sink, bag and all, not wanting her to get them all out and lost while we were gone. Elio went down to his car.

"Where are we going?" I asked when we arrived at the car.

"I couldn't decide. And then I watched one of those cooking travel shows where they go across the United States finding hidden gems. Have you ever seen any of those?"

"I haven't, but it sounds fun. Is one of those hidden gems here?"

"Yeah, not too far from here. We probably could walk, but there's the potential for rain, so I figured it was better if we drove. No one wants to walk a mile in the rain, especially not with a full belly." He was right about that.

We drove the short distance and when they said "hole in the wall," they meant it. You could easily drive past this place without even realizing it was there.

"What do they feature?" I asked as we walked up to the door.

"You'll see. I looked up the menu and they have it all highlighted ‘as seen on TV.'"

We walked inside and I instantly loved the place.

Upon reading the menu, I discovered they were best known for deep-frying random things like cheesecake and Oreos, and even a sandwich—not like a grilled cheese sandwich, no. They they took the sandwich and dipped it in batter before they deep-fried it.

I did a hard pass on that one and instead got the actual grilled cheese. We sat in the corner booth and ate our fill of junk food. I splurged and had a milkshake to wash it all down, although they called it a malt. As much as people tried to tell me the difference between a malt and a shake, I never tasted the difference. But in any case, it was delicious.

And the company? Fantastic.

We talked about how he came to own the apartment building and why it meant so much to him. It put a lot more things in perspective—the way he handled so much of the maintenance on his own, the way he seemed to really care about his tenants, and the way he just came over to fix things that were broken, even though it was well past normal working hours for that kind of a task.

In the same way he learned a lot about me that night in the kitchen, I learned a lot about him right there in the diner. I wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not. I found myself really falling for him, and really liking him. And because it was me, I just blurted out, "I really like you, Elio." I grabbed his hand as we were walking to the car. "This okay?"

"It's more than okay." He squeezed it back. "And, for the record, I really like you, too."