Coming Home(79)

“They exist,” Leah said, looking inside the containers. One was filled with sesame chicken, and the other contained pot stickers.

Leah’s mouth dropped. “How did you know to order this?”

“What?” he asked, his eyes trained on the chopsticks he was unwrapping.

“Sesame chicken and pot stickers? What made you order this?”

“Because it’s your favorite,” he said simply as he reached into his container with his chopsticks and pulled out a piece of broccoli.

“How did you know that?”

He popped the broccoli in his mouth. “You told me,” he said around his food.

“I did?”

He laughed softly. “Yeah. It was Tuesday night. Or maybe Wednesday. One of the nights I spoke to you this week.”

“Huh,” Leah said. “I don’t remember that.” She reached into the container and pulled out a pot sticker.

“I pay attention.”

Leah glanced up, and he winked at her before he grabbed his water bottle and twisted off the cap. She watched him take a long sip, suddenly overwhelmed with the desire to swat the bottle away from his lips and replace it with her mouth.

“What?” he asked as he put the bottle down and picked up his chopsticks.

“Nothing,” Leah said. “Just…watching you show off.”

“Show off?”

She nodded to his chopsticks, and he laughed.

“I’m not showing off. This is how you’re supposed to eat this stuff.”

She shrugged, spearing a piece of chicken with her fork and bringing it to her mouth, and he smiled, putting his container down and leaning across the table.

“Here,” he said, taking the fork from her hand and replacing it with the chopsticks. He manipulated her fingers around the sticks, his brow furrowed in concentration, and Leah kept her eyes trained on his face.

Maybe it was the fact that she had anticipated being with him all weekend, but right now, everything about him—his touch, his laugh, his voice—was driving her crazy.

“There,” he said, pulling his hand away. “Try it now.”

Leah strained to keep her fingers in the position he’d placed them in as she brought them down to her food, unsteadily gripping a piece of chicken between them. She raised it carefully from the container, grinning with pride as she glanced up at Danny, but the sticks shifted in her hand. She tried to pinch them together quickly, but they slipped and snapped together, sending the chicken flying across the table into Danny’s chest before it bounced into his lap.

She pressed her lips together, staring at him, and he looked down at his lap and then back up at her before they both started laughing. Danny grabbed the piece of chicken and popped it into his mouth before he reached across the table and took the chopsticks.

“Okay, you’re cut off,” he said, handing her back the fork.

Leah smirked as she took it from him, spearing a piece of chicken just as the double beep of her phone alerted her to an incoming text. She reached down with one hand and pulled the phone out of her purse, swiping her thumb over the screen to read the message.

She laughed softly before replying.

“What’s so funny?”

“My dad,” Leah said, finishing her reply before she pushed the phone away. “He just asked me how old my brother was when he stopped sleeping with his stuffed dinosaur, which could only mean my brother is at his house right now and they’re having a heated discussion over this very topic. I’m sure I’m being called in as a referee.”