"Has it occurred to you that almost everyone else here is under four feet tall?" Sara couldn't help but notice as she and Nick walked through the pumpkin patch that it seemed to be full of kindergarten and preschool classes on field trips to pick out perfect little pumpkins.
Nick couldn't help but grin at her. "Ah, but how many of them are gonna want a pumpkin like that?" He pointed at quite possibly the largest pumpkin in the entire patch. It was easily 40 pounds and was a sort of lopsided lumpy blob of a pumpkin.
Sara giggled. "If you plan on getting any sleep before shift tonight, you might want to pick out a smaller pumpkin." She could just imagine the amount of time it would take to wrestle the pumpkin into Nick's rig and then scoop out the contents once they got to his house before he figured out how he wanted to carve it.
"Hey, I have a system." Nick eyed the pumpkin as all of the possibilities of just how he could carve it swirled in his mind.
"A system." Sara sounded skeptical and she snorted out a laugh.
"Yes." His sheepish grin gave way to a laugh and he moved towards her with a mischievous look in his eye. "I have years of experience picking out perfect pumpkins."
"Oh, really?" Sara smirked at him, noticing that he was standing rather close to her and enjoying every second of it. She crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head slightly as if to issue some sort of challenge.
"Yeah, really." Nick tried to swallow his grin as he took another step towards her and then quickly ducked down and he grabbed her around the knees and hoisted her over his shoulder as she let out a yelp.
"Nick." Sara was giggling uncontrollably at how silly she felt. "I want down." She could tell that they were attracting attention.
"You want me to put you down?" Nick was tromping around the pumpkin patch gathering the stares of amused teachers and parents of the various school groups, entirely pleased with himself.
"Yes." Truth be told, Sara was thoroughly enjoying herself despite her protests to the contrary.
"I guess I should...I can't carry you and the pumpkin." His tone was full of exaggerated resignation and Nick knew he was asking for it as he set her down. "Even I'm not that strong."
"Are you saying that I'm heavy?" Sara arched a brow at him in amusement. Her cheeks were flushed pink and she couldn't stop smiling. She had always enjoyed flirting with Nick, but being on a date with him and being able to openly flirt knowing that this time there was something behind it was very nice.
Nick shook his head. "Now why would you get an idea like that?" He took in the expression on her face; the slightly pursed lips and the impish look in her eyes and thought he'd never seen her look more beautiful and full of life than at that moment. "I thought we clearly established that the pumpkin was heavy."
Sara giggled. "Well if we don't get our pumpkins it won't matter how heavy they are...we won't have time to carve them." She was anxious to get on with their pumpkin carving contest so that she could show him that she had a few tricks up her sleeve and the idea of spending more time alone with him was something she'd looked forward to her entire shift.
"Well you haven't even picked one out yet." His tone was playful as he gestured towards the large pumpkin he had in mind to carve for himself. "I dare you to find one with as much personality as Mr. Lumpy over there."
Sara snickered; she wasn't sure why, but she couldn't stop laughing and Nick seemed to suffer from the same malady. "Well, since you claim to be such an expert, why don't you pick one out for me?" The challenge was out there and since Sara really didn't care what shape or size her pumpkin was, she thought it might be fun to let Nick decide which one she should carve.
What she hadn't counted on was Nick wanting to look at nearly every pumpkin they'd already looked at to see if it could 'match the caliber' of his pumpkin. Finally, she simply grabbed a rather symmetrical looking pumpkin and instructed him to go get his so they could pay for the pumpkins and head out to the SUV.
The sight of Nick carrying the pumpkin up to the cashier was pretty humorous. Rather than using a wheelbarrow, he'd insisted on carrying it and he resembled a large pregnant penguin the way he was waddling carefully so as to not step on any of the other pumpkins in the patch.
Sara had pulled her wallet out of her purse and was about to pay for her pumpkin when Nick stopped her with a gentle smile. "Hey, Sar, this is my treat...we're on a date, remember."
Sara felt her cheeks flush and a smile spread across her face as she realized that it had been a really long time since someone had made a point to let her know that she was special. This simple gesture of Nick buying her pumpkin had the strangest effect on her stomach as a flurry of butterflies seemed to swarm inside of it. "Yeah."
Nick deposited his pumpkin into a wheelbarrow and put Sara's in with it as he paid and then began pushing it towards his Denali. He glanced over at her as he felt her thread her arm through his and grinned with pleasure at just having her company. "I'm really glad I brought you here. This has been really fun."
"Yeah, it has been." There was a little bit of sadness mixed into her smile as Sara considered how much of her childhood she had missed out on by growing up in her family.
"Are you glad you came?" Nick caught the bit of hesitation in her tone and wondered if she was having second thoughts about their date.
Her smile widened as she let out a sigh. "Yeah, I am." She paused for a moment as she gathered her thoughts. "I was just thinking how I don't think I ever got to do this as a kid. Thanks for bringing me here; this meant a lot to me." As they stopped in front of the SUV, Sara leaned up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
Nick couldn't help but grin. "I'm glad. Now what do you say we get these back to my house so we can carve them...I still have your ass to whoop at pumpkin carving."
As he opened up the back of the Denali to load the pumpkins in Sara smirked at him. "Put up or shut up, Nick."
"With pleasure, darlin'." Nick's drawl was as thick as his smile. And when he winked at her, Sara could have sworn that she felt that swarm of butterflies flying around her stomach again.