We meandered along the sidewalk back up onto the older part of Main Street, until we suddenly found ourselves stuck behind group of tourists, walking five abreast.
In the past, this would have pissed me off royally, but with the early evening sun on my shoulders, and Brynn's hand in mine, I didn't mind having to slow down at all.
"Looks like they're headed to Bob and Lou's now," Brynn sighed. "That was my last hope of where we could get dinner without hitting the crowds."
We were passing Scoops when I was seized with a sudden impulse. "Let's get ice cream," I suddenly blurted. "Do you want anything?"
She looked at me askance. "For dinner?"
"Why not?"
"Isn't that against some kind of... internal Rett code?"
I thought for a moment. "I'm already walking through town flaunting the fact that I'm with you. I'm breaking internal Rett codes left and right already, why not go all the way?"
She sort of stumbled for a second and came to a stop. "What?" I asked.
"I love you," she exhaled in a rush.
"I know," I said, tilting her chin up to brush her lips with mine. "I love you too. It's pretty fucking great, isn't it?"
She giggled then darted a look across the street with a sigh. "Well if you were planning on having Cal find out about us, now's the time. We're right across from his storefront."
I looked across the street. She was right, the right thing to do right now would be to go over and let him know. But there was a bubble of happiness in my chest that I didn't want to have popped by explanations and dramatic reveals. "Later," I told her. "Right now, ice cream."
"Who are you?" she marveled.
"No idea. Take advantage of it. What kind do you want?"
She smiled. "Whatever you want is fine," she said. "I'm easy."
I scowled at her. "First off, no you're not," I said, and was rewarded with a cute little blush. "And second off, you know you can't get away with bullshit with me. Tell me what you want."
She bit her lip, scowled at me, then wrinkling her nose she suddenly blurted, "Rocky Road, two scoops, in a waffle cone."
I squeezed her hand. "There's my girl," I said, nodding approvingly.
The seagulls wheeled overhead, filling the air with their cries as I counted over the money and presented her with her gigantic cone. I was then rewarded with the pleasure of watching her pink lips closing over the ice cream, her tongue flicking out to lick it in a way that had me dizzyingly hard almost an instant. I growled as she slurped the last bits from the cone. "Come here," I said, yanking her forward to kiss her.
She stumbled, and with an awkward yelp, suddenly slid forward. We both looked down. "Oh shit," she muttered, looking down at the broken strap on her flip flop. "Shit, I don't want to have to go home."
"You don't have to," I pointed out, gesturing across the street. "The outfitters probably has something."
I wound my hand around her waist and helped her limp her way across the streets to the outfitters. The interior was all wood, with shoes lining the back wall. Brynn hopped over to the women's section, but something caught my eye and I stopped.
Right there in front of the wall of men's boots.
Brynn looked over her shoulder. "Oh, for God's sake," she called. "Stop obsessing about the boots. It's over. The prowler probably got bored when he realized I basically spend all my time at home talking to my cat."
But her voice sounded very far away, because there, there was what I was looking for.
I walked over and lifted a pair of low rise brown hiking shoes with a distinctive orange reflective stripe across the top. Pulling out my phone from my pocket, I flipped it over and checked the sole side-by-side with the picture I had on my phone.
"Holy shit," I exhaled.
Brynn came over, and looked at me curiously. I held up the sole for her to see. "It's a perfect match."
She froze and her eyes looked suddenly frightened. "What do we do now?" she asked me imploringly.
I took her hand, something inside of me wanting to make everything better. "I'll find the guy," I promised her. Of course I did. What else could I do, but promised her the world? "It shouldn't be too hard," I went on. "These are pretty damn ugly."
Several emotions played across her face at once, but the one that settled into place was surprise. She suddenly burst out laughing and, there, in full view of all of the other tourists and townspeople in the store, she wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me.
I growled into her mouth, immediately deepening the kiss, snaking my hand up the back of her head to grab a fistful of her hair, turning her head to the side so that I could explore her mouth with no barrier. She made a faint sound, melting against me, and I slid my hand around her waist holding her flush against me. Immediately I was hard again, rock hard and painful for her. I pulled back, breathless, to see that her eyes were shining in anticipation.
Without thinking, I reached over to the rack next to the shoe wall and grabbed a packet of shoelaces from the clip that was hanging there. Then I took her by the hand, and led her back to the dressing rooms.