“Maybe you’d be okay to drive up to Burlington,” she said. “There are a lot more choices for places to eat, and we could walk through their Sugar Maple Park. They have lights in all the trees in the spring.”
“All right,” he said stupidly, thinking he’d probably fly to Egypt with her if she wanted to go.
“You do know that Vermont is the largest producer of maple syrup, right?” Her eyes held a teasing edge.
“I did not know that.”
She smiled at him, and the gesture seemed just for him. Just for him in this moment, and no one else. “They put the lights in the trees in the spring, because they tap them for the sap and they work around the clock.”
“Oh.” Why wouldn’t his brain send words to his mouth? “Sounds fun.”
She started walking again, and Ben’s mind started functioning a little bette
