Unscathed

Crap. Truck or bike? I didn’t think she’d appreciate the bike. Maybe on date number two. Or three. Here I am contemplating more dates with Mina. I shook my head. She’d really gotten into my head and under my skin.

I opened the truck door and started it up. I’d texted her earlier and asked directions to the house where she lived with her uncle and aunt. But hadn’t it been more than that? Wasn’t I really checking to see if she was still on for our date? She had texted back her address. With a smile I shoved my cell phone into my pants pocket. As I drove to her house, I wondered how the night would end. I really wanted her, but I wanted to savor her, too.

Before I knew it, I was in front of her aunt and uncle’s house, Mina’s little blue car was in the driveway. It was a pretty nice home in the suburbs, one story with fresh paint and an immaculate lawn. I killed the engine and walked up the pathway lined with flowers. When I stepped on the porch, a security light popped on and made me jump a little. Before I could ring the doorbell, the door opened.

“Hi,” Mina said, standing there in a pretty light blue dress and white sandals. Man, she looked incredible. I cursed myself for not bringing her some flowers or something. I was such a Neanderthal.

I smiled at her. “Hi, beautiful.”

Her face flushed red and she pushed some hair behind her ear, looking down at herself. “Come in.”

I nodded and stepped inside. I followed her to a modest kitchen where two people were standing talking.

“Uncle Rob and Aunt Claire, this is Jax.”

I walked to Rob and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

He had a firm handshake and he kept eye contact. He seemed genuine and said, “Nice to meet you, too.”

I then shook Claire’s hand. She was a lovely woman with short blonde hair and fashionable clothes. “Hello, Jax.” She had no accent.

I nodded at her and then looked at Mina. “You ready to go?”

She smiled. “Yes.”

“Have fun, you two,” Uncle Rob called in the same accent as Mina’s.

I opened my truck door and helped her in. Once we were on the road, I looked at Mina. “So your Uncle Rob, he’s your mom’s or dad’s brother?”

She nodded. “Yes, my mother’s brother. How did you guess?”

I laughed. “The accent. Duh.”

She also let out a nervous laugh. “Oh, I guess that did give it away a bit, I suppose.”

“Oh, totally,” I replied.

We were quiet for a bit, then she said, “So, where are you taking me, Jax?”

I grinned wickedly. “It’s a surprise.”

She looked down at the radio, then back up to me. “Do you have anything besides country music?”

“What, you don’t like my music? It’s more country-rock than anything.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Yes, well it’s quite obnoxious.”

I faked insult. “Get the fuck outta here!”

With that she laughed, and I flipped the station to some top-40 crap and she seemed to be content with a P!nk song blaring through my speakers.

When we pulled up to Disneyworld, I looked over at Mina. Her eyes were big. “You’re taking me to Disney?”

Bam! Got the desired response. Sweet.

Without answering her, I went around and opened her door. “Since seeing the whole park would take at least two full days, no, we aren’t going inside. We’re going to Downtown Disney, it’s just outside the park, with lots of restaurants and shops.”

She smiled and almost seemed relieved, and I wondered what that meant. Maybe she didn’t like crowds? The heat? I would have to ask her.

So many questions.

I hit the button on the remote to lock the truck and ushered her by placing my hand on the small of her back towards the front of a very popular restaurant called the ‘Earl of Sandwich’. It wasn’t the sort of place that would’ve needed me to make a reservation. We got in line. A very leggy blonde woman stood behind the counter. Mina looked up at the large black menu board fixed to the wall behind the woman, who stood staring expectantly at us, waiting to take our order.

“I thought you might like this place,” I said, looking at the curve of her smooth neck as she read the menu board.

“How’s that?” she asked without glancing sideways at me.

“It was the Brits who invented the sandwich, wasn’t it? And don’t you guys have lots of earls and dukes and things?” I tried to sound knowledgeable.

“Things?” And this time she did glance at me. Her lips turned up at the corners as she smiled.

“You know what I mean,” I smiled back. “Princes and Princesses and Queens.”

“Just the one Queen,” she laughed softly.

“I knew that,” I said, fearing that she might think I was some kinda dumbass. “I just thought it might make you think of home – you know.”

“I know,” she smiled at me, her right hand gently brushing against mine. Was that accident? I hoped not. I let the back of my hand linger against hers until she moved her hand away and pointed up at the board. “I’ll have the grilled cheese sandwich and some crisps.”

“Crisps?” I asked. Was that English for something else?

“That’s what we call chips back home,” she said, glancing at me again.

“So what do you call fries?” I asked her.

“Chips,” she said with another teasing smile.

“But isn’t that what you just said?” I frowned.

“No,” she said with a gentle shake of her head. “Fries are chips in the UK, and chips are fries.”

I looked at her, my mind beginning to scramble. It was like trying to solve some freaking word game. Then with a shrug, I looked at the woman still waiting to take my order and said, “I’ll have the same.”

With a slight roll of her eyes at me, she turned and fetched our order. I paid, then plucked up the tray that our food had been placed on.

“It’s warm tonight,” Mina said, as she watched me peer through the throng of tourists in search of a table to sit at. “Let’s sit outside.”

“Sure,” I said, heading for the door.

Mina followed me outside, an easy breeze causing the hem of her light blue dress to whisper about her tanned thighs. God, they looked so freaking smooth. I pushed the thoughts of them locked tight around my back from my mind and sat down opposite her.

Mina reached for her sandwich and removed the wax paper it had been wrapped in. There was a wide, open space in front of the restaurant where a DJ had set up. He was playing cheesy pop music and encouraging those strolling past to stop and dance for a while. Some did, others just stood and watched, swaying from side to side in time with the music. There was a fun atmosphere in the air. I watched Mina take a small bite of her sandwich. Her eyes reflected the flashing neon lights attached to the front of the DJ’s decks. She chewed her sandwich slowly and thoughtfully as if there was something on her mind.

There was so much I wanted to ask her. But my mouth turned dust dry. God, I’ was behaving like I’d never been on a date before. I had, but they had always been uncomfortable, kinda like now. This is why I preferred casual hook-ups with the female form. All this prim and proper bullshit just wasn’t me. But yet here I was; I’d even instigated this date and I couldn’t form one coherent word.

Chapter Fourteen

Mina

“What are you thinking about?” I heard Jax ask.

“Huh?” I whispered, looking away from those dancing before the DJ. At least twenty people now, mainly kids, were dancing to the music being played. There was a party atmosphere.

“You look lost in thought,” Jax said, unscrewing the cap from the bottle of Coors he had bought with his sandwich.

“I’ve been here before,” I said, looking back at those who swayed and twirled before the DJ. They clapped their hands and laughed. They looked happy.

“On a date?” he asked, tilting his head back and gulping from the bottle. I watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down as he drank. He looked at me and armed beer from his goatee.

“I was with a guy, as it happens,” I said. Was Jax the possessive type? I doubted it very much, as I recalled the many girls I had seen him lead through his front door as I spied on him from the shadows.

“Anyone, I know?” he asked casually enough, but I sensed perhaps it bothered him.

“I doubt it,” I said thoughtfully, looking back at the dancers. Their number had grown. “He’s dead now.”

“Dead?” Jax said, nearly choking on a mouthful of sandwich.

“My father,” I told him. “He brought me here once when I was a girl. About nine, I think I was at the time. We came over to see my uncle. Summer holiday, that sort of thing. We only came once, but I’ll never forget.”

“I’m sorry,” Jax said, placing his half-eaten sandwich down onto the greasy-looking paper.

“Sorry?” I said, glancing across the table at him.

“You know, about your dad dying,” he said, looking uncomfortable. I could tell he was trying to be compassionate but struggling to find the right words. I sensed that beneath his tattooed and hard-looking exterior, he probably had a softer side. Perhaps I would find out.

“That’s okay,” I lied and looked back towards those dancing in the square. The fact that my father had died so early on in my life wasn’t okay. I had been left with my mother. She hadn’t waited long to start sharing my father’s bed with another. The bed she would catch me in with…

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Jax asked.

I looked into his dark eyes. There was a kindness in them or perhaps it was empathy? “No,” I said, picking up my sandwich again and taking a bite. I watched the dancers again, their cavorting forms cast long, tangled shadows on the concrete, they looked like black flames licking and writhing against one another.

“Perhaps bringing you here was a bad idea,” Jax said, pushing his chair back and standing up. “We can go someplace else.”