There were plenty of things Keir did amazingly like commanding the undivided attention of undergrads while giving a lecture on Descartes' mind-body dualism, using pencil and paper to craft a floor plan and living structure, and constructing a delectable meal out of random ingredients wasting away in the fridge but driving wasn't one of them.

"I thought the speed limit in Texas was a suggestion." Keir started, holding out her hand for her to grasp, giving her the stability she needed exiting the Land Rover he borrowed from a friend.

Katrina let her slip-on sneaker-covered feet plant on the beige gravel road hoping the stillness of the ground would calm her rattled nerves. "Your driver's license should be revoked. I'm pretty sure you almost gave that little old man a heart attack from the way you merged in front of him."

"Every maneuver I did was legal as per the handbook of California's DPS." He hooked his arm with hers as they made their way down the car-lined pathway toward the orange and white banner labeled with the words, Sanchez Family Farm. "But I haven't driven a car for some time so I may have underestimated the velocity and distances needed to operate a big-body vehicle. But I'll do better, go slower on the way back."

"Nah." Katrina lowered her sunglasses from the top of her head and slid them on her face as the sun's brilliance obstructed her sight. "I'm driving back."

"Ha!" He harked, maneuvering them around a kid that had to get their shoelaces tied. "Your eyelids are going to be meeting by the time you click on your seatbelt."

"No, they won't." She bumped his side with her forearm. He gave her a 'be real' look and she knowingly smiled. "But can you please drive like Morgan Freeman and I'm Miss Daisy."

His eyebrows drew together while his sight was on the booths a couple of paces in front of them, "I don't know who Miss Daisy is but I'll drive like I have a flan in the passenger seat. Nice and slow."

"Appreciate it." She rested the side of her face against her arm and as if it was instinct he softly kissed the top of her head.

He didn't see the gentle smile that etched itself across her plump lips as he handed his credit card to the teenager at the booth nor was he privy to the warmness that spread through Katrina's chest from the simple action that made her rattled nerves calm.

Once his wallet and card were returned to the back pocket of his white linen shorts he led them to the epicenter of the traffic where the different paths began. "What do you want to do first?"

Still holding his arm she read the wooden signs informing the visitors which direction each crop was and where the festival festivities were held. Lively music and the vocalizations of excitement streamed from the area to her right attracting a steady line of guests. In the front of her and to the left were an equal amount of frequency to those pathways as well and then she remembered an important fact.

"Wait." She peered up at him and her voice called his attention to her with an easy smile upon his full lips. "This was my treat to you. You should be picking and I should've paid." She gestured to the booth.

He had helped her move, helped her with Clive while she was taking care of Imani at the hospital, and being an all-around great friend so she planned a day at the farms after learning that he was a habitual client of farmer's markets when he lived in Los Angeles as a teen and while working for his dad's architectural firm.

"And I feel treated being here with you." He lifted their interwoven hands to his mouth and kissed the back of her hand. "The grand total for admission was twenty-five dollars and you can pay me back—"

She pulled her phone from the front pocket of her overall shorts. "I can Zelle it to you."

"In kisses." He completed his statement, pulled the phone from her hand, and slipped it back into his pocket. "Anywhere I choose."

She smirked, her eyes taking in the full sight of him from head to toe. "I'd do that for free."

"I know." He caressed her chin and then gestured to the paths. "Picking or pie?"

Katrina eyes the signs again as she felt the emptiness of need swelling within and only one of those things could be filled in their current setting. "Pie."

"Pie it is." He affirmed, leading them to the right.

******

"Taste this," Keir instructed. Katrina's hand paused on the branch as turned to her and opened her mouth. The soft pad of his thumb grazed her lip after placing the chocolate-covered fruit in her mouth. A pleasing hum grew in the base of her throat before the succulent juice from the fruit spilled on her tongue.

Tartness was chased by a kiss of sweetness as she swallowed the treat down and opened her eyes. "An orange." She guessed, playing along with the little game they started after a container of chocolate-covered fruit from the festival.

He shook his hand handing her the container. "Kumquat."

"Kumquat." She repeated the word as if she could taste each letter that composed it. "I like that word. It's different. Odd."

"Do you normally like odd things?" He asked, going back to pulling berries off a bush.

She shrugged, looking through the assortment of chocolates searching for one to feed him. "I haven't really thought about it. But I do love eating ice cream in the winter and walking in the rain."

"Walking in the rain can be therapeutic."

"Yes." She nodded with a toothy smile finally happy someone agreed with her. "The raindrops thudding against the umbrella." She sighed to herself, her fingers landing on a piece of chocolate with the fruit she was sure he couldn't guess. "That's one of the reasons I miss Houston. The random rainstorms."

"You thinking about moving back?" He asked after depositing a handful of berries in the sack hanging across his body.

"Rain isn't as regular but I'm ninety-eight percent certain I'm here to stay."

"Good." He held her gaze for a couple of seconds and then let them fall to her hands. "Found one." He bent down slightly and let her place the treat into his mouth. He chewed while watching her suck the melted traces of chocolate from her pointer finger and thumb.

"Okay. What do you think it is?"

"Hold on." He held up his hand, thinking as he savored the lingering of the fruit still upon his taste buds after he had swallowed. "Persimmon."

"Ah.." She eyed him with suspicion as if he was cheating but there was no what he could've done. The name on the fruit dipped in chocolate was only relieved after the treat was plucked from its place in the container. "Are you a fruit savant?"

"No." He chortled. "There's a persimmon tree in my backyard, well the backyard of my parent's house, I should say."

"Hmm." She closed the container and placed it in the paper bag along with the other goodies they picked up at the festival. "That's neat."

He glanced at her before plucking more berries off the bush, "If you're interested, I can take you to see it. My mom would love to show off her garden and she loves cooking for new people."

"Oh, no. I couldn't do that." She affirmed, pulling two berries from a branch at once.

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Because what?" His hand froze inside the bush. "She already knows you're pregnant and getting a divorce."

She gawked at him sideways. "What else does she know?"

"Look.." He retracted his hand away from the shrub giving her his full attention. "I'm not someone that lies and upholds false pretenses so when I visited my family and they asked if I was seeing anyone I was truthful."

Katrina began to say they weren't seeing each other because they weren't in a relationship but she knew that was incorrect. They may have said it was a friendship but over the last couple of weeks, it had formed into something deeper than just two people kicking it. It was something that didn't fit in the standard definition of titles that fell under the dating, engaged, or married status. But they were in a relationship whether she was ready to admit it or not.

"And what didn't your family think about you seeing a separated, pregnant woman that's older than you?"

"They seemed fine." He nonchalantly shrugged. "But who cares what they think? I'm happy." He lifted her chin, shifting her gaze off the berry bush to him. "Are you happy...with me?"

She nodded then said. "I'm happy with you and being with you."

"Good." He smiled before leaning in, placing a soft but quick kiss on her lips then went back to picking berries.

She watched him, studied him as if he was a new subject she had to decipher. There was something about him she couldn't quite understand. It was sending her brain into a tailspin. From the way they converse to the way he effortlessly showed affection; it all felt easy. Too easy. There was a part, a deep part of her that resided in the deepest region of the chest that started to second guess the man that stood before her; nothing could be this good and be true. Her last relationship had proven that. 

Why do you think Katrina feels her relationship is too good to be true?

What do you think it means that Keir told his family about Katrina?