I’m realizing just how much, sitting here across from him, batting back a warm feeling.

“You look different,” he says calmly.

“How so?”

His shoulders lift, then let go. A slow blink of those long, dark lashes. Maybe he’s putting a spell on me.

“You’ve been smiling more,” he responds at last. “The first day we knew each other, you didn’t smile as much. And it’s something else, too.” Another shrug. “Happiness can make someone look like a completely different person.”

This gives me serious pause. Am I happy? My gaze slides to my glass of water, but I can’t make out my reflection in it.

I look up again, and Hall smiles as he watches.

“What?”

“Nothing. You’re just interesting to observe. Like a movie, except your movie is about someone who has been stuck in the beginning part of the movie for a long, long time. You know what I mean? The first half, before they’ve learned to grow and change.”

“I’m like a movie?” I feel the confused expression I’m making, which makes him laugh. “What do you mean about a first half?”

“Nothing bad, only interesting. I’ve been people-watching since the Neanderthal days. So far, you’re my favorite person to watch.”

This stuns me for a moment. “I exasperate you all the time.” I don’t know why I feel the need to point this out. “When I make wishes you don’t like.”

“You know how I love movies? I’ve seen pretty much all of them, so I can usually guess where the plot will go. But with you?” Elbow on the table, hand against the side of his face to support it, he tilts his head in the opposite direction and raises his eyebrows in a who knows? sort of gesture. Then he casts his eyes down, lashes fanning crescent shadows on his cheeks, and idly begins to play the pegs-in-the-triangle game.

I’m still wondering if I’m bewitched, or if everybody else is, when our food arrives. “You went to magic camp when you were still a spirit.” I stir my drink, watching him closely. “I can’t get over it.”

“Three summers in a row, and it ruled. Here, I’ll show you some of my tricks.”

He shakes a deck of cards out of his sleeve, earning himself an eyebrow raise. But his hands move too rapidly to follow, his smiles distracting me expertly. He’s a master at sleight of hand. I’ve never found magic tricks attractive before and am shaken to my core by how hot I’m finding this.

Hall is unaware, happily making a quarter disappear. Then he makes me guess which hand it’s in. (I’m never right.) Demonstrates the dexterity of his fingers by rolling it in front of and behind them in a swift flash of silver. It is honestly mesmerizing.

He plucks it from behind my ear. “Is this yours?”

“Look again. I think I dropped fifty bucks back there.”

He reaches behind my other ear, revealing a handful of peanut butter pretzel bites. My favorite.