Chapter 5

“Hmm,” Cyn thought for a moment. “Have you done any traveling?”

“No. Not really.”

“Play any sports?”

“A little bit in high school, but now I mostly work and help my parents.”

“Alex,” Cyn stated with a sigh, “I stand corrected. Not everyone is interesting in some way. Boy, it’s a good thing you met me.”

He looked at her smiling at him and believed that it was indeed a good thing that he had met her.

“Boring as you may be, I like you, Alex. I like you a lot.”

A couple of hours later, the room was painted, Cyn had told Alex all about her art and her grandiose plans to dominate the art world – of which Alex had very little doubt – and they were back sitting at the small kitchen table with a veritable feast laid out before them.

“It looks and smells amazing, Cyn,” Alex said.

“I’m a pretty good cook,” she replied as she filled a plate for him, then filled one for herself. “Now, I know that you’re a man of few words, but if you’d like to take the reins of our conversation, please do. I hope that you won’t be offended if I don’t say much. I’m sure that you could surmise that I enjoy food. And I’m not super great at multitasking. But feel free to talk. I’m more than happy to listen, just don’t expect much chatter from me. I hope you don’t mind.”

As it turned out, Alex didn’t mind. He didn’t think that he had ever seen anyone enjoy anything as much as Cyn was enjoying her dinner. But he was learning that she seemed to enjoy everything. As they ate in virtual silence, Alex was learning something else. He was utterly fascinated by this young woman sitting across from him.

At one point, Cyn noticed Alex watching her eat and she looked at him. Not in any accusatory way. She was much too comfortable with herself to be bothered by someone watching her eat. She smiled at him, swallowed her mouthful of food, and said, “We should really go on a ‘proper’ date, Alex.” She wiped her mouth with her napkin. “I mean, does this count as a date?”

“I don’t know,” Alex answered. “Do you want to consider this a date?”

“Yeah.” Almost impossibly, Cyn’s smile brightened even more. “Yeah, I do.”

Alex could feel her warmth from across the table.

“But this time, you have to ask me out,” she told him.

“Okay. I have Wednesday off. Cyn, could I take you out to dinner and a movie?”

“I would love it!”

After dinner, Alex helped Cyn clear the table, and then she brought out some chocolate chip cookies. “As much as I love to eat a good meal, I often feel that it’s really just a prelude to dessert. You know what I mean?”

Alex didn’t, but he smiled anyway.

“I baked these yesterday knowing that we’d be painting all day today. But they’re just as good the next day.”

“Hey, can I ask you something?”