Back to You(44)

“I’m not! I thought you were great in there. Well, except for the whole carrot thing.” lives far away.”
Adam laughed, shaking his head. He had started to chop them, not realizing the recipe called for them to be served whole, and each time he brought the knife down on the raw carrots, tiny pieces would shoot off the cutting board in different directions, like rogue missiles, hitting Lauren and at times the couple in front of them. Finally, the teacher came over and laid a placating hand on his wrist, telling him it was unnecessary for the recipe, and Lauren had to focus extremely hard on sautéing the spinach to keep from laughing.
“Oh, and the onion thing,” Lauren added, smirking before she took a delicate sip of wine.
“You know, a lesser man’s ego would be bruised by all these backhanded compliments.”
“Good thing you’re not a lesser man, then.”
Adam smiled, lifting his glass to hers, and she clinked it softly. “And besides,” he said, “you were the one who assigned me the onions to chop. You could have mentioned it’s a step below getting maced.”
Lauren laughed. “Why do you think I passed the job to you?”
Adam narrowed his eyes at her. “Cruel.”
“I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you.”
He raised his brow before he smiled. “Fair enough,” he said as a server brought their appetizers to the table.
“Well,” Lauren said once the plates were in front of them. “Ready?”
“If you are,” Adam said, lifting his fork.
Lauren nodded, and they both cut a small piece of the smoked salmon and crème fraiche bruschetta, bringing it to their lips. After chewing in silence for a second, Adam brought the back of his hand to his mouth. “Wow,” he said around his mouthful of food. “That’s…”
“Incredible,” Lauren finished for him, taking another forkful. “Do you think this is actually the one we made, or are they taking pity on us and serving us the real deal?”
“If this is them taking pity on us, I’ll gladly accept it. Damn,” he added after taking another bite. “We’re good. We’re actually good. I’m impressed with us.”
“Agreed,” she laughed, dabbing her mouth with the napkin.
Adam took a sip of wine. “So,” he finally said. “Can I ask what made you want to be a child psychologist?”
Lauren lifted her wine, taking a sip, which gave her a few extra seconds to formulate her answer. She went with partial truth.
“I don’t know. I guess I’ve just seen a lot of kids who don’t have the coping strategies for issues they’re encountering at young ages, whether it’s emotional or developmental. And I know that having those strategies, having an outlet, makes all the difference. In how they turn out, I mean. And I just…I want to do more than be a teacher for kids like that.” She looked up to find him watching her intently. “I know…that sounds so…”
“Admirable? Humane? Commendable?”
Lauren felt her cheeks get hot. “I was going to say clichéd.”
Adam shook his head. “Not at all,” he said softly.
She smiled then, dropping her eyes for a moment. “What about you?” she asked, lifting her fork again. “What made you want to be a chiropractor?”
He shrugged. “I broke oo real.
Lauren froze with her fork halfway to her mouth, her eyes growing wide. “You broke your neck?”
He nodded, taking the last bite of his appetizer before he wiped his mouth.
“Oh my God,” Lauren said. “When? How?”
“My senior year of high school. I had just landed a baseball scholarship to the University of Texas the week before it happened. We were playing the last game of our season. I was on second, and the guy up at bat hit a hard grounder down the left side. The third baseman squatted down to field it just as I slid headfirst into third, and boom.” He crashed his two fists together in front of him. “My head, his knee.”
Lauren cringed, shaking her head. “Jesus.”
“Oh, it sucked.”
“How are you…How can you…?”
“I got lucky. Really, really lucky. And on top of that, the rehab facility I was in was amazing. And that’s when I knew it was what I wanted to do.”
“Wow,” Lauren said. “So, how long were you in rehab?”
The server who had just arrived to bring them the main course cast a look between them before he awkwardly cleared his throat and excused himself, and Adam laughed.
“Great. When they come and confiscate our wine, it’s going to be your fault.”