“Green chili burger it is,” she announced. “Oh, and of course these cheese curds.”
He raised his eyebrows and set his own menu to the side.
“I heard Chef,” she told him with a shrug. “She said they were good and we should have them.”
He chuckled. “Yup. The best. They taste as good as the ones in Wisconsin. I think they use the same cheese.”
She nodded and perused the menu, just to make sure there wasn’t anything else she wanted. It was comfortable sitting with him.
“So, you gave up the good life to come work on a ranch,” she said after a moment of quiet between them. “How’s it working out for you?”
“Amazing.” He smiled, and it lit up the room. His eyes were so brown they were almost black, but when he smiled, they sparkled like precious black diamonds. “At my old job, I couldn’t trust anyone. Everyone was fake and out to make a name for themselves at any cost. I wasn’t happy.”
“And you’re happy now?” she asked.
He smiled, and the full weight of his gaze landed on her. “I am.”
She wasn’t entirely sure if he meant that he was happy here with her or just in general. Either way, it made her feel like she was blushing.
“What can I get you two to drink?” The waiter saved her from having to ask him what he was happy about.
“Just water for me,” she said quickly.
“Lemonade for me, please,” Dylan told the waiter. He looked at Bonnie. “Get whatever you want. Tonight’s my treat.”
“I can’t,” she said shaking her head. She didn’t want to take advantage of him. Even knowing he was a billionaire, she didn’t want to order more than was necessary. It felt rude.
“I can afford it, I promise,” he said with a smile.
She chuckled. “Water, please. With a lemon.”
The waiter nodded and wrote down the added lemon on his pad of paper. “Are you two ready to order?”
Dylan looked to check with her, and she nodded, so he told the waiter, “I’ll have a green chili burger, medium rare with extra chilies.” He looked over at Bonnie and grinned. “And an order of cheese curds.”
“I’ll have the same,” Bonnie told the waiter, handing him the menu. The waiter quickly made a mark on her paper and smiled before heading off to the kitchen.
“I have to ask you something,” Dylan said, leaning back in his seat.
“Okay...” Bonnie’s shoulders tensed. She wasn’t ready to tell him about the Trio. She wasn’t ready to tell him what her brother saw. She did her best to keep her face steady, but she glanced over to the exit before she could stop herself.
“How did you get Tyson into the water so easily?” he asked. Bonnie let out a small breath. “Elena’s practically had to force him to just put his feet in the water. You had him splashing and halfway to actually swimming in thirty minutes. How’d you do it?”
“I’ve done it before,” she admitted. “I’m a kindergarten teacher. And I used to give swim lessons.”
“I remember you saying that,” he replied, looking interested.
Her chest tightened as she remembered that she wasn’t a teacher anymore. She was on the run. Her brother was a material witness, and she was the threat to get him not to testify.
“I mean, I was,” she said, trying to push the hurt away. “I was a special ed teacher. I worked primarily with autism and sensory kids at my school.”
“I’ve heard of autism, but not sensory kids,” he said. “What’s that?”
“Sensory Processing disorder is very common in kids with autism, but shows up in lots of other kids too. Basically, their brains don’t process sensory information correctly. So, normal sensations, like a scratchy t-shirt tag or a fire engine passing by, are far too intense and can even be painful,” she explained. “Or, the reverse can be true, and they aren’t getting enough sensory info. So, those kids tend to always be moving and searching for more stimulation.”
“Wow.” He thought about it for a moment, digesting her words. “How do you teach someone to deal with that?”
“That’s where therapy comes into play,” she told him. “A lot of what we did in my classroom was working on making the overwhelming sensations less scary. If we could make them fun, that was always the best.”