“Yeah, I think so.”
“Come on, let’s walk it off, get away from thecrowds.”
“Yes, please.” She accepted his hand and followed him blindly,focusing her eyes on the blades of grass as they passed. After afew moments, Crispin found a shady bench in front of St. James’sPark Lake.
“There, just relax, and watch the ducks.” Tucking her under hisarm, he ran his fingers over her hair and waited. “Look at allthese different types of waterfowl. Ducks, geese,swans…”
Gwen smiled athis attempt to distract her. At the same time, she could tell hewas genuinely impressed with the variety of creatures swimmingabout in the gated off area of the lake. “Sorry, Crispin, I justget overwhelmed and don’t know what to do. Part of me wants to runand hide. It’s so hard to explain. I want to be here, yet I don’t.It all just hits me at once. My heart starts racing. I start tosweat. I feel like I’m having a heart attack even though I know I’mnot.”
He nodded inresponse before adding, “You’re excited and overwhelmed. You wantto see it all but don’t know where to start. You’re afraid ofmissing something or making the wrong decision and then somethingterrible might happen.”
“How do you know all that?”
“I’m an art major with a minor in psychology. Who would havethought it would come in so handy?”
“You think I’m crazy, don’t you?”
“Not crazy at all. No worries, you’re perfectly normal but withenough quirks to keep you from being too mundane.”
“It’s not funny.”
“Aw, Gwen, I’m not making fun. I quite like you the way youare.”
“You’ll get sick of me soon enough,” she whispered.
“Strange, I was just thinking the same thing.” He chuckled whenshe fought to get up and wrestled her back down. “Fuck, sorry, Imeant you’ll be sick of me soon.”
“Why would you say that?” she asked, looking up athim.
“Because it’s the truth.”
Gwen was aboutto object when a familiar buzz sounded from his coat pocket. Shewatched him check his cell phone. He studied the message, frownedat first, then his frown gave way to a little smile before hetucked the phone back into this pocket. “Silly dormouse,” hegrumbled absently.
“Your concerned housemate again?”
He nodded inresponse. “Sneaky little dormouse must have gotten my number fromKell or Dorian. Now I’ll never hear the end of it.”
He made itsound as though he were annoyed but Gwen could tell he was quitepleased with the message. “What’s a dormouse?”
“A tiny creature that shows up and takes over. It’s what I callBecky. A nickname I guess. It suits her.”
“You’re quite fond of Becky.”
“I suppose…”
“How fond of her are you?
“Why? Are you jealous?” He gave her a playful nudge.
“Should I be?”
“No.” He winked and slowly shook his head. “I don’t think ofher that way.”
“What way?”
“The way I think of you.” He leaned in and stole a kiss,causing her to blush.
“Then you should call her.” She giggled at his affectionatenature. It never ceased to impress her. She half-expected him tocool it now that they’d had sex, but she was wrong. If anything shemight even describe him as a tad clingy. Not that she wascomplaining. She actually quite liked it. She found it reassuring.Yet it made her wonder, even more, why he didn’t like it when shereciprocated the affection. By the end of the day, though, shewould find out. She was determined to get to know him better today,this mysterious companion of hers.
“Call who?”
“Becky.”
“Maybe I don’t want to.” He sat up and turned his attention tothe ducks again.
“Well, then why don’t you just turn your phone off?”
“I don’t know, I kinda like getting the messages. It’s nice tobe missed, go figure.”
“That’s cruel of you.”
“I can be quite cruel at times,” he said with a sigh. “Best youknow that now.”
“Well, I certainly hope I’m never on the receiving end of thatcruel streak of yours.”
“You’d have to stick around long enough…” He paused, watching afamily of mallards swim by, the mama and her ducklings scramblingup behind her. “Anyway, I’m sure you have seen a hint. You’re justtoo enamoured with my persona to acknowledge it. Won’t be long now,though…”
Gwen couldn’thelp but crack up. “Well, aren’t we the well-adjusted pair ofindividuals?” she teased. “Maybe you should try some of thatpsychology on yourself.” When he furrowed his brow and slowlystood, Gwen thought she had gone too far. “Sorry, I was onlyjoking…” But following his concentrated line of vision to what heldhis attention, she suddenly realized he hadn’t heard her. He wasstaring at a tiny duckling that had gotten caught up in a tallbunch of reeds. “Oh… poor little thing,” she whispered, watching asthe mama duck circled back for her lost duckling. Try as she mightto encourage him out, the little guy just couldn’t seem to getthrough. “Should we call someone?”
“I have a better idea.” Before she could stop him, Crispinstepped over the fence and a within seconds reached the duckling.Careful not to slip on the muddy slope, he crouched down and heldthe reeds apart. Seizing the opportunity, the tiny duck squeezedthrough and swam towards his desperate mother, who was now quackingup a storm. “Go on, your family’s waiting. Lucky you.” By now, asmallish crowd had gathered to watch and clapped as Crispin hoppedback over the fence.
“Aw… how sweet of you!” Gwen exclaimed when he came back to herside.
“Oh, come on.” He brushed by her, grabbed their things from thebench and started walking. “It was nothing.”
“Nothing?” She scrambled after him. “For a guy who claims to becruel…”
Refusing toacknowledge her accolades, he took purposeful steps towards anearby café. “You thirsty? I am. How about a drink?”
“You are such a contradiction!” Unable to resist, she caughthis arm, causing him to come to a full stop. Before he couldcomplain, she grabbed him around his shoulders and kissed him onthe lips like the hero he was. Still watching, the small crowdbehind them clapped again.
For a madmoment, he held her to him and kissed her back with a vengeance.Seconds later, he came to his senses and pulled away. “Good lord,woman,” he gasped between her repeated attempts to kiss him. “Get ahold of yourself.”
“Come on already.” She smiled at his indignation.
