Ten in the morning came without signs of Maroney. Now it is twenty past ten, and he never made it on time to pick me up. Should I call him or wait a little longer?

I'm dressed and ready for the lake adventure he'd promised me, my white casual dress exposing my swimsuit underneath it. I won't text or call Maroney now, though. Maybe I'm judging him when he's been working hard this all week and should give him some credit. Isn't this time of the year when real states are selling more houses?

I can't help but turn on Netflix. Vampire Diaries again? Sure. Elena is just about to kiss Damon, so I let myself focus on the episode and the next one even though it is almost impossible to have my attention there one hundred percent. He still doesn't text me or call, so I do myself a favor and text him to ask if everything is fine.

Thirty minutes after my text, I finally hear the soft knock on my door, revealing Maroney one hour and a half late after the initial time agreed, which was ten in the morning.

"Let's go," he rushes me to his car with a small smile across his face. I grab my beach bag with a few items inside, including the sunscreen and a bug spray. I want to ask him whether something is wrong or whether we should cancel for today. As I follow him down the stairs, I suddenly remember that I'd forgotten my beach towel.

"Oh. I left my towel and a few sandwiches in the fridge. Let me go get it." I tell him as I'm ready to enter his vehicle.

"We are not getting inside the water," he tells me. "And about the sandwiches...don't worry. I have a few in my bag, too. They are delicious," he reassures me with a smirk. I stare at him, and his smile doesn't seem genuine as something very wrong happened.

"Oh. Are you sure? Mine is good, too."

"I don't want to get to the lake too late."

I enter his car as he quickly introduces me to his lab, who excitedly greet me with his tail.

Butter is a beautiful beige happy canine dog that loves attention. His tongue is sticking out of his mouth, and I'm wondering whether he is thirsty. As Maroney drives off the lot, the first thing he does is roll his window down and lights up his cigarette. The wind blows the smoke inside, hitting my face and hair, but I stay silent as I don't want to come up as the annoying college student girl with straight A's. So, I ignore the nicotine scent that makes me sick to my stomach.

The entire drive to the lake is silent with Maroney, and I'd rather have stayed home than going out with him. I have some catching up with my mother, who wants to come here for Memorial Day.

"Look, we can do this another day," I finally tell him. "I have plenty of projects for next week." I don't want him to feel obligated to spend his precious time with me.

"Why? That's okay. I'm just having a bad day. That's not your fault, though." he finally spills the words out of his mouth.

Should I thank him for that?

"You could've told me." I remind him. "We could have gone another day. I waited for almost two hours."

"Sure thing, but I wanted to see you," I see the smile forming on the corner of his lips. I really don't understand him. "And I'm sorry I came late."

Does he want to see me? Really? His actions tell me the opposite.

"This is Stoughton," he points to the small town we are now driving through. He parks the car in a small lot under a tree where I see the lake stream. "You know, it isn't exactly a lake, but I love coming here for fishing."

I gaze at the dark green algae spread all over the water.

"I think the other side is better," he comes and opens my door to let me out. He asks me to follow him, and we cross the bridge, his dog following us without a leash and sometimes running into circles.

"Where's his leash?" I ask him when I see the dog jumping into the algae lake.

"Butter doesn't need one." The dog swims and swims until he gets tired.

Maroney opens his thermal bag, bringing out two cans of Coke. He handles me one, and I accept it. There are sandwiches wrapped on a foil, and my stomach growls. I haven't eaten anything for breakfast. He gives me one, and I excitedly open it.

I remove the foil out of that, but to my surprise, it is a ham and cheese sandwich rather than a vegetarian one.

Embarrassed, I slowly place the foil back.

"Is it something wrong?" He asks as he chews his sandwich.

"Sorry, I don't eat ham."

"Oh, I forgot you're a vegetarian. My bad." He says as he takes another bite of his sandwich. "Why don't you get rid of the ham and stick out with mayo and cheese."

"I'm allergic to cold meats, so if it touches the cheese, it is a lost cause for me."

"Oh, I am sorry. I totally forgot about it." He opens his thermo bag again and gives me a bag of chips. He looks at the bag, "Oh, man. How could I have been so stupid? The chips are made out of ham, too."

"That's fine. I already had breakfast," I lie. I don't want to sound that type of person. I could have eaten something, but I was waiting for him and have prepared my own sandwich. I could have cooked scrambled eggs, but it was my first day off in a century.

"Nothing wrong with that." he throws a rock in the water. "This is where I usually come for fishing. I like it here so much that I woke up at six in the morning to spend half of my day here."

I gape at his words, "Is this why you came a bit late?" I ask him.

"Believe me, I didn't forget about our plans about going to the lake, but I confess I'd lost track of time this morning. There is a part of me who loves to be alone. Clarification of thoughts," he smiles before grabbing another cigarette.

"Oh." I don't want to ask him more questions even though I feel that I should. Disappointment hits me hard in the face at his comment. Could he have told me he would be that late to pick me up? I lost an entire morning.

"I don't think I want to stay here that long. You came a little bit too late. If I hadn't texted you, would you pick me up?"

Maroney raises his eyebrows and thinks for a moment. "Want to know something?"

I wait.

"I woke up two in the morning with my ex sitting on my bed."

The confession takes me by surprise, "And?"

"I tend to leave my front door unlocked, so she opened the door and came in while I was sleeping. She was wasted."

I am surprised he is sharing this personal stuff with me. Maybe he's really having a bad day. Something is off.

"What did you do?"

"I kicked her out of my house. I am just so tired of dealing with her all those years. But then something happened. She crashed one block away from my house," he inhales his cigarette one more time. The smoke comes out, and I move away from him.

"Is she okay?" I'm confused about this amount of information. The sun comes out of a cloud in full force, and I am angry at myself for forgetting my sunglasses. I spray sunscreen on my arms and spread it over my arms and legs, including my feet.

"She is fine, but I'm not. I feel like an asshole, you know? I shouldn't have let her go like that. But at the same time, it happened more times than I can count. She could have died last night because of me," he places his hands over his head. "I was so tired from working so many hours this past week that I couldn't think clearly when I saw her there."

"Maybe she is not over you."

"All those years, I gave her more chances than you could ever imagine it. Somehow, I lost faith in people and couldn't accept the person I became after we broke up."

"But now that I met you, Cassidy, I feel this need, this appetite growing inside of me. The need to start over with someone for the first time. I like you more than I should."

I'm surprised at his words but don't know what to tell him. "I am glad you like me." His kind words fill my heart, and I can't believe he is telling me something meaningful for the first time. I wait for the electricity to fill my body when his hands touch mine.

But nothing comes out of it.

He leans down to kiss me on my forehead unexpectedly, "Can we start over?"

"Can you start over?" I ask him. I don't have anything to start over.

"Of course. I want to go slow, though."

"In this case, I'd say sure. Going slow is good."

But I don't tell I'm confused. Way more confused than he is.

***

We spend another half an hour sitting there as he grabs his fishing gear and tries to get some fish. "They are not biting today," his disappointed expression doesn't lie.

A text message pops up on his phone as he stops everything from taking a look, "Oh shit. It is my mother's birthday. I have to go there now."

"Oh. It would help if you told me. I don't even have a gift for her."

"Oh, I totally forgot about her birthday, but don't worry. I'm not taking you there. I will drive you home, and then I will head there by myself.

Ouch.

"What time you want to go?" I'm suddenly embarrassed at my own comment. Of course, he wouldn't invite me there.

"Now." he raises his eyebrow, rushing me back to his car. "Maybe I can stop by later when it is over?"

"Sure," I say, confused.

Butter runs in circles as Maroney collects his things, barking at a couple launching their kayak into the water. "Butter," Maroney shouts at him as we cross the small bridge, and the dog runs toward him.

"It looks like he wants to stay."

"Definitely."

Although the weather is nicer than it was in the middle of the night, dark clouds are still in the sky with the sun coming out a few times here and there. As we walk side by side, I stare at the many puddles in the street, being careful enough not to step in either one of them. It is then that a car driving at high speed hits one of the big ones, mud and water splashing all over my white dress.

"What a jerk," Maroney shouts to the car that disappears into the road in seconds. Maroney runs to his vehicle looking for a towel, but all he can find are used napkins from Culver's to clean up my soaked dress. Nothing helps, really, and my dress is completely ruined.

"Don't worry. I'll take you home as fast as I can."

***

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