A Bride for 100 Days

eighteen: flirting with my husband

Jeb scratched the back of his head like he was trying to loosen up some words.  "There's a place I want to show you. Let's talk there," he turned and began walking. 

So I followed. 

For the next 20 minutes. 

I watched his body move and knew that he was listening for me behind him. When I slowed, he did - without even looking back. 

Finally, we edged off to a thinner path, less worn. Down some stones arranged like steps. And there it was, a waterfall.

Whoa. Pretty. 

Jeb let the backpack drop off his shoulders. His flannel was stained with sweat. He pulled that off, too, and tied it around his waist. Then he pulled out his water and drank for a long time. He held out another bottle for me. 

There was a bench and I collapsed onto it. The water wasn't cold anymore but it felt so good going down. 

"You want lunch?" he rummaged through the main pocket. 

"You've got lunch?"

"Uh, grocery store? You watched me buy it."

"I thought that stuff was for Mrs. Burgess. And I was busy keeping Levi from climbing into the coolers."

"Fair," his lips twitched. "I didn't even know he was strong enough to open those doors."

"Oh, yeah. That's why I've started leaving a chair against the fridge each night."

"Oh, the fridge has a child-safety lock."

"What?!"

"I'll show you how when we get back."

"Thanks," I took a few more sips of water and admired the waterfall. "It's beautiful, Jeb. I would have never found it. Thank you for bringing me here."

"Alice, about before... things are so complicated between us already, right?"

I started to argue and then stopped myself. 

His expression mirrored my feelings.  "I'm thinking though, I mean...I'm thinking about you..."

"Me, too," I nodded. "I mean me thinking about you. Maybe dinner sometime?"

"Yeah. Though I like lunch, too," he flashed me a grin and gave me one of two pre-made sandwiches and a couple of cutie oranges. We watched the water falling as we ate and chatted about silly things. Afterward, I carefully tucked our wrappers back in the bag. I may not be super-close with nature but that didn't mean I wanted to trash it. 

Jeb used his phone to take a few pictures. Then he went still. "Alice? Did you meet with Finn?"

"What? Oh, yeah. We put things to rest. It was actually kind of awful but I don't think he'll be whining on street corners anymore."

"It doesn't look awful," he sounded a little angry. 

I reached out and took his phone. Holy Shit. Really? REALLY?!? Naomi had made a GIF of Finn putting his hand on mine. Over and over and over again. Him making that cheesy smile and then sliding that paw across the table...

I groaned. "It's not what it looks like."

"That didn't happen?"

"Not like that," I handed back the phone. 

"What about this?" He turned the screen towards me. A picture that showed my face laughing at something with Finn across from me. It was titled 'RELATIONSHIP GOALS'.