July 6th, 2004

Lily stood in her closet staring at all of her clothes. What should she wear to go get ice cream with Peter? Lily rolled her eyes grabbing the red sundress she bought at A Dollar a Pound thrift store. She slid it on and tied the red ribbon around her waist. She did have the perfect shoes, a pair of strappy red heels. They had little cherries that hung off the buckle. She walked over to her dresser and pinned her hair up. Why on earth was her heart racing? She was just having ice cream with a collogue.

"Good ice cream." Lily mumbled as the buzzer went off. She jumped. he was here. She walked over to the intercom. "Peter, I'll be right down."

"Okay. I'll be waiting." He said. Lily locked her front door and hurried downstairs. She stepped outside. "Wow." Peter stared at her. She looked so beautiful.

"What?" Lily frowned walking down the stairs.

"Nothing. You look amazing." Peter said. Lily could feel her cheeks reddening.

"Well, thank you." She said,

"Want to go Ben and Jerry's?" He asked her. She nodded.

"My two favourite men." Lily winked. Peter chuckled as they walked down the street.

"Thank you again for last night. I felt really good when I got home. I actually got some sleep." He told him.

"I didn't." Lily admitted. Peter reached over and took her hand.

"Well, I hope it wasn't because all those people." he said. Lily smiled at him. He seemed to have a caring heart. She shook her head.

"I just had a lot on my mind last night." Lily said as they made their way onto Newbury Street. "Today is going to be a good day though. Ice cream always makes things better."

"That it does." Peter said leafing her to the Ice cream shop that was almost hidden away under ground. He couldn't believe he was actually holding her hand. This was just a friendly date though, he had to keep on reminding himself. Neither of them were ready for a relationship though. He knew it and he hoped she knew it as well.

"These heels aren't the best to walk down the stairs in." Lily chuckled.

"They're great though." He said helping her down the stairs. "I love cherries."

"I'll keep that in mind." She winked getting in line. All Beaners knew about the Ben and Jerry's shop. They always took visiting friends and relatives there. It was a tiny place but very popular.

"I think I'm in the mood for something like Chunky monkey." he said looking over the menu.

"Chubby Hubby is great." Lily said.

"Yeah. I forgot about that one." Peter said, "Maybe that's what I'll get."

"me too." Lily said. Peter walked up to the counter.

"Hi." he smiled at the cashier, "Could we have two Chubby hubbies in waffle cones. Two scoops?"

"Certainly." She smiled.
"I can pay for my own ice cream, Peter." Lily said opening her purse.

"Don't be ridiculous." He said pulling out a twenty, "This is my treat." Lily smiled taking the ice cream from the Scooper.

"Thank you so much, Peter." She said sitting in one of the stools. Peter nodded sitting across from her.

"No problem. I don't mind treating beautiful ladies for ice cream." He told her. Beautiful. Lily hadn't been called beautiful in awhile. She thought briefly of Bug. He was the last man to tell her that.

"So tell me, Dr Winslow, did you always want to be a doctor?" Lily asked him. Peter laughed shaking his head.

"No. Before I moved to America, I wanted to be an astronaut." Peter told her, "Then my ideas changed when we got here and I wanted to be Indiana Jones."

"but of course. Even I wanted to be Indian Jones." Lily giggles, "My brother used to tie me up and I thought it'd be cool to be able to wiggle out in a clever way."

"That was my favourite movie. I love all of them." Peter said, "Jaws too."

"Jaws is a classic." Lily smiled. "When did you come to America?"

"1979. I made it just in time to see the wonderful eighties." Peter told her.
"You should have seen me then." She groaned, "I can't believe my father let me out of the house with hair that big." Peter laughed loudly.
"You'll need to show me pictures." He said.

"Someday maybe." Lily winked. The two of them sat there eating their ice cream, just enjoying each other's company. Peter tried not to watch Lily lick her ice cream, but hell he was only a man and it's been so long.
"Want to go feed the ducks?" Peter asked. Lily nodded.
"I haven't done that in ages." She said, "I would love to. I love those little things." Peter extended his hand to her.
"We can walk, talk, and eat at the same time." he told her. Lily took his hand with a chuckle.
"You're not wearing these shoes." She said licking the drip of ice cream off of her hand.
"I'll try them on later." Peter chuckled as he led Lily out of the ice cream Shoppe. "So let me ask you this, why a grief counselor?"
"I like helping people." She told him, "You guys work with the dead ones, but I like helping the living ones along to help them live some more." Peter smiled.
"That's great. I don't know if I could do what you do." He said. "It's hard enough trying to explain how a loved one died. You're a strong person, Lily."
"No I'm not." She told him, "I just pretend to be." Peter smiled tenderly at her.
"You're a lot stronger than I am." He said. Lily gently squeezed his hand. Peter couldn't explain it. Lily made his soul feel calm. "I'll buy some popcorn from the popcorn push cart guy and we can feed the ducks."
"Sounds great." Lily said crossing the street.
"I need to be honest with you, Lily." Peter glanced at her.
"I would hope you would be completely honest with me." Lily said, "What is it?"
"This morning I thought I didn't want to be in a relationship. I know I still have a lot of issues to work though and I didn't think I wanted to bring someone else into my life." Peter said. "Now I'm not sure what I want." Lily smiled and nodded.
"Same here. You confuse me." She chuckled.
"how do I confuse you?" Peter asked walking up to the popcorn vendor. "One bag please."
"I don't know if I should pursue the feelings that are obvious between us." She said, "Workplace romances are very tricky." Peter nodded.
"I know." He said handing her the bag of popcorn, "Let's just go with the flow."
"Sounds good." She said leading him to the water. Okay, she would be lying if she said she didn't want to pursue more of Peter, but she didn't want to mess up their friendship.
"There's a family of ducks." Peter pointed across the pond. Lily sat down on the grass throwing a handful of popcorn into the water. The ducks Immediately swam over there. Lily giggled as they quaked loudly. Peter sat down next to Lily watching the happiness on her face. He never did this with his ex-wife. He never fed the ducks with her or had a nice walk with her. Their idea of a good time was to do drugs in the bathroom at the local bar. Peter never felt this giddiness coursing through his veins before.
"This is great." She said leaning back looking up at the sky.
"Lily?" Peter whispered. She glanced at him.
"What?" She smiled. Peter reached out and touched her cheek. The simple touch caused her body to shiver.

"May I kiss you?" He asked. Lily's heart thumped loudly in her chest. She nodded.

"Of course." Lily whispered licking her bottom lip, "Thank you for asking."

"It's only right." Peter smiled leaning down, pressing his lips to hers. Lily's eyes slipped shut, feeling his lips. They were so soft. Lily pushed into him slightly, inviting a deeper kiss. Peter took the hint. His tongue slowly caressed her soft bottom lip before sliding into her mouth. Neither of them had kissed in awhile. This was a welcoming change. Both of their bodies shivered as their tongues danced together. One of the ducks jumped out of the water and grabbed the popcorn bag from Lily's hand. She pulled away in laughter.

"Someone is hungry." Lily said fixing her lipstick.

"Thanks for the mood killer, Duck." Peter chuckled. Lily playfully smacked his shoulder. He smiled watching her give the ducks the rest of the popcorn. His lips was buzzing from their kiss. He wanted kiss her more, but he wanted to take this slow. He didn't want to ruin a good thing.