Picture Perfect

take Tessa on our first date, it immediately popped into my mind.
    The look of pure joy on her face made me feel like I was taking a victory lap after kicking Mike Tyson’s ass in a one round total knockout. It turns out that when it mattered, I did know how to be romantic.
    “Oh, Flynn! It’s beautiful up here. The smell of the sage and the breeze from the ocean is unbelievable.”
    Damn I was pretty fucking please with myself. This was a date that she was going to remember, and for all the right reasons.
    We spread out the blanket that I’d brought to lay our picnic dinner out on, and then I ran back to the car and collected all of the pillows that I’d brought for comfort. I laughed out loud when I imagined the look of horror my decorator would have if she saw that the comforter and pillows from one of my guestrooms were now thrown on top of the grass. Oddly enough, they looked more inviting on the grass than they ever had in my house. Go figure.
    We unpacked the rest together. I’d gotten roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, salad, broccoli with cheese, a variety of mini cakes for dessert and a bottle of chardonnay.
    “Holy hell Flynn- how many people are you trying to feed here?”
    I had to chuckle at that because she was right. What she didn’t yet realize was that when I was hungry, I was ravenous. Right then I was starved for her, and I had no problems substituting that need with food. “Just you and me babe. Just you and me.”
    With a laugh, she gestured to the feast that was spread out before us. “Methinks that you’ve got a love of carbohydrates Mr. Rand.”
    “I am very guilty of that charge. Cheapest and easiest foods are all carbs. Before our first CD came out, we lived on potatoes, ramen noodles and bagels. You’d think we wouldn’t like all that stuff now, but it’s like it got into our blood.”
    Nodding her head at me, she smiled. “I understand completely. Those were my college apartment staples. Oh, and easy mac. Can’t forget easy mac. I’m pretty sure God made that on the seventh day and kept it a secret until the people at Kraft figured it out. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, quite like the taste of that magical powdered cheese.”
    That made me laugh because it was true, easy mac is the shit. Carbs are my default food choices, but for years I’ve had one groupie slut after another bitching at me that I needed to “refine” my palette. I’m pretty sure that if the other guys and I sat down and tried to track how many women had offered to “home cook” for us, we’d be in the thousands. Chicks always like to pretend to care about our health and well-being. What they’re really interested in is the fame and our bank accounts.
    “I agree. I’m not saying that there aren’t other amazing foods out there, but if we got nuked tomorrow, I’d survive in a bunker on ramen noodles and easy mac with a smile on my face.”
    Nodding her head in agreement Tess added, “Throw in a lifetime supply of cherry Pepsi and you’ve got yourself a bunker buddy.”
    That caused me to laugh so hard I almost choked. My biggest addiction was cherry Pepsi, but it was a closely guarded secret because the band did commercials for a competing brand. All the other guys were hooked on that brand, but I’d stayed true to my cult-like love for cherry Pepsi. As part of our contract with the brand we did commercials for, I couldn’t drink anything but their stuff in public. This meant that for the last five years, my assistants have been stocking my garage with cases of cherry Pepsi on the sly since I’m not even allowed to buy it myself.
    “Babe, cherry Pepsi is my true love. Fucking nobody knows that, so keep it on the down low. I’d be in breach of contract if that got out. I’ve got the rest of this tour to get through before I’m allowed to drink what it is that I like.”
    Smiling at me, Tess put her hand over her heart. “I promise to keep your secret safe.”
    We dug into our dinner with gusto, and I was happy to see that, just like the night before, Tess wasn’t weird about eating in front of me. One of my pet peeves about girls is the constant and ridiculous need to put on the, “I don’t eat much,” bullshit routine. If I wanted to date a rabbit, I would. When I’m breaking bread with someone, I want to see that they’re enjoying the meal.
    As we ate, Tess asked me questions about my family and Cole’s. Normally I edit a lot of what I say to