Josephine's Secret

12. It's the Effort that Counts

"My lady." I greet in my best old-timey accent. "You look absolutely breathtaking this fine morning if I do say so myself."

"I'm in a hoodie-"

"Play along." I whisper-shout at her. "You look absolutely breathtaking this fine morning if I do say so myself." I repeat, going back into character.

"Thank you... kind sir?" she replies, taking my hand when I get off of the horse. I lift her onto the connected carriage and take a seat next to her, using the limited seating space as an excuse to put my arm around her shoulder. "I didn't know you could ride a horse."

"I don't." I tell her once we start moving, hoping that the guy who's actually steering the animals can't hear me. "I just thought it would be cooler if I was on a horse."

"How did you know about all of this?" she asks. "The pumpkin patch, macarons, and the cupcakes, they're all some of my favorite things. How'd you know?"

"I got reached out to one of your friends."

"Who? Only Alan knows that I like pumpkin patches- You reached out to Alan?" I nod, causing her eyes to widen. "I thought you didn't like him?"

"He's not that bad when you get to know him." I say with a shrug, trying to make it seem like me reaching out to her friend isn't a big deal. Josephine knows that I didn't really like Alan when I first met him, I don't think that he liked me very much either.

"I know that." she says in a 'duh' tone. "He's my best guy friend."

"I'm not your best guy friend?" I frown, wanting to be on the top of her list. Dropping a not-so-subtle hint, I tell her, "I think that I should be your best guy friend."

"Are you asking me to stick you in the friend-zone?" Josephine gives me a pointed look. "I mean, that can be arranged." she shrugs my arm off of her shoulder and starts scooting away from me, nearly knocking her crutches off of the carriage in the process.

Quickly undoing her actions and pulling her close to me again, I shake my head, "I'm okay as long as you aren't romantically interested in someone else." It feels weird to say the words 'romantically interested in', but it's better than creeping my mate out by saying 'love interest'. If she wants to take things slow, then that's what I'll have to do until she gets more comfortable with me. After a couple minutes pass, I lower my voice so only she can hear and whisper in her ear, "I thought that the carriage ride would be more exciting."

"It's not that bad." she shakes her head, looking around like she's trying to think of reasons why this carriage ride is interesting.

"You don't have to pretend to like it." I tell her, not wanting her to be afraid to voice her opinion. "I'm losing interest in this too."

"What are people suppose to do on a carriage ride anyway?" Josephine asks, her question actually sounding genuine. "I just thought it would be a romantic thing to do." I answer, nervously scratching the back of my neck, suddenly feeling like I said the wrong thing to her. Truth be told, I actually planned the entire day by myself. Camille told me to find out what my mate likes doing and to work off of that, but I pretty much did everything else myself. "Do you just want to get off when we reach the pumpkin picking spot?"

***

Josephine's Pov

"Hands off, Stone!" I yell, tightening my grip on my pumpkin. After half an hour of walking around and closely inspecting all the pumpkins littered across the ground, I found the perfect one. But Archer decided to be a douche and claimed that he saw it first. But I touched it first.