In This Moment(30)

I order myself not to stare at his full lips or the way that the fabric of his shorts clings to his damp, just-showered skin. Swallowing down the building moisture in my mouth, I say, “I told you that I would be here.”

“Still… I’m surprised.” Cole sways back on his heels and looks away—out over a crop of jagged trees silhouetted by the sinking evening sun. “Are you ready to go?”

“I—ahh—where are we going?”

“To a pizza place over on Second Street.”

My eyes stretch. “But I thought maybe we could just do the interview here.”

“Here?” Cole looks around at the fast-emptying parking lot and grimaces. “Aimee, I’ve just been killing myself in the heat and I’m starving. I vote that we do this interview thing where I can sit in a comfortable booth and shove garlic knots in my mouth. If we don’t, I’ll have to resort to eating week-old cracker crumbs off the floorboard of my truck.”

I don’t say anything right away and he continues, “And, if it’ll make you feel better, you don’t even have to eat pizza with me. You can drink water and suck down a few of those little sugar packets while I sit across from you and enjoy the best deep dish on the planet.”

I can’t help it—I laugh. Brushing my palms off on my cropped jeans, I stand up. “Well, I don’t want you eating moldy crumbs so lead the way.”



***



Cole asks the waitress to bring out two orders of garlic knots. When he looks up and sees my raised eyebrows, he grins crookedly. “What?”

I shake my head and smile back. “Nothing. I totally respect how determined you are to have bad breath. It’s refreshing.”

“Well…” Cole squints his green eyes a bit. “Bad breath is definitely the kind of thing that I would be concerned with on an actual date, but since you’ve made it clear that this,” he gestures between us, “isn’t a date, I thought I’d be safe. However, if you’ve changed your mind, I’m more than happy to forego the second order of garlic knots. I’m pretty sure that you’d be worth it.”

My cheeks go warm and I drop my eyes to the table in the vain hope that Cole won’t notice how affected I am. With fumbling fingers, I reach into my oversized purse to find the pen and pad of paper that I tucked in the inside pocket earlier.

“No. The garlic knots are just fine.” I try to regain my lost composure by clearing my throat. “So, why don’t you start by telling me a little about yourself?”

Cole takes a sip from the icy coke in front of him. He watches me carefully over the rim of the glass and I get a sensation like he can read all of the crazy thoughts sloshing around in my head.

He asks, “What do you want to know first?”

I’ve never done an interview before so I have no idea how this is supposed to go, but I figure if it has any chance of working out, I should probably start with his track career. That’s fairly safe territory.

Internally, I command my voice not to wobble. “Let’s talk about your races and titles. Last year, as a sophomore, you dominated the conference in the mid-distance races, but you lost the 4oo meter at the Semifinals to Noah Whitman. Have you amped up your training at all this year and what are your predictions for the coming spring?”

Cole leans back and crosses his arms over his chest like he’s assessing me. I shift nervously and the corners of his mouth curl up in amusement. His green eyes blaze with excitement. “You looked into me,” he says.

I’m not about to admit that I searched him online almost two weeks ago and that in addition to his running and hurdling stats—I know he dressed up as a bare-chested Thor last Halloween and back home his family has a pug named Babs. Instead, I shrug and say, “I did a little bit of prep work. Always be prepared, right?”

“Okay then…” Cole uncrosses his arms. “It’s the off-season so right now our scheduled practices only go about three or four days a week, but that doesn’t mean that I’m slacking on my workouts and training.” He pauses. “I thought a lot over the summer about ways that I could improve after I lost in that last heat to Whitman. I should have won and I know that, so this year I’m making some changes. I’m working out more with the team trainer and I’ve started prepping for a triathlon that I’m doing with some of the guys in a few weeks.”

“Is the triathlon University-sanctioned or just something you’re doing for fun?”

“Fun,” he says with a shrug. “If you could call running and swimming and biking in the Florida heat fun.”