Parker’s chest puffed up with pride, but he knew he couldn’t count his chickens before they hatched. He didn’t know much about Half Moon Key, but he had a week to figure it out.
He had a local girl to impress.
* * *
The rideback into Half Moon Key was freer for Parker. This time around, when Jade asked him questions about his past, he did his best to answer without shutting down completely. He had seen how much of a jerk Hughie was, and if there was a man he wanted to be nothing like, it was Hughie.
He had been that arrogant man in his life before, but that was when the money and the power and the success had gotten to his head.
Now, he was just a humbled retired man who had some interesting feelings for a beautiful woman. If she wanted to ask him questions about his life to get to know him, he wouldn’t stop her.
It would actually make askingherquestions about her own life that much easier. Hopefully, he would get some good ideas as to what to do for their Beach Day date. He knew that the stakes were higher than ever before. This wasn’t just a little date with someone he sort of liked.
This was a date with a local from Half Moon Key.
If he fucked this up, the entire town would know, and then he might even have to leave. He didn’t want to pack up his shit and find another place to settle down. He liked Half Moon Key. Though the more he thought about it, the more that had to do with Jade and not so much with the town.
He knew that to be true because he was suddenly way more into the small town than he had been before their ride into town to rent the tents.
“And what are the best date spots in Half Moon Key?” he asked.
Jade considered his question for a moment. “It depends on who you’re trying to impress or who you ask. The high school kids really love Lovers’ Lane, but I think I did too when I was in their shoes. It’s an age thing, I think. I don’t know how romantic I would find making out in a car now that I am a grown woman with an apartment that has a perfectly comfortable bed in it.” She blushed as she realized what she had just said to him.
“Not Lovers’ Lane, got it.”
“Some people would say that the movie theater is a good time. It’s super old school. The screen isn’t all that big, and the seats could probably do with some freshening up, but it’s a nice and cozy place. I know that some people really like Moony’s for date nights, but then there is the other restaurant in town.”
“Ah, yes. You mean The Spaghetti Bowl.”
“Yeah. That’s the one.”
“Is there much competition between those two places?”
“No, not at all. The Spaghetti Bowl is only opened for dinner from five to ten on Thursdays, Friday, Saturdays, and Sundays.”
“That’s an interesting schedule. How do they stay in business?”
“Well, you see, it’s because they aren’t open every day that they manage to stay in operation. If they were open every day, they wouldn’t make it.”
“Because of Moony’s?”
“Because of Moony’s,” she repeated. “But the folks that own The Spaghetti Bowl also own the ice cream parlor. They do just fine. It’s the Ledger family. You met Nora, remember?”
“Oh, that’s a fun tidbit I didn’t know. The Ledgers own more than one place in town. Got it.”
“Yeah, it’s cool. You can go eat some yummy pasta and then have dessert at the ice cream parlor.”
“Make a whole night out of it.”
“Exactly!”
“Any other special spots I should know about?”
“Well, the lake is always a nice spot, but as you know, it’ll be crawling with people on Beach Day.”
Parker wanted to point out that his cabin had private access to the lake that was far enough from the town center that they could be in complete isolation, but he thought better of it.
“Thanks for everything today,” she said. “I don’t know what I would have done without you. Hughie was in fine form.”