I raised an eyebrow at her. “No more true crime podcasts for you. Fucking hell.” Shaking my head, chuckling despite myself, I flashed my headlights. “Normally, there are more people out here, but I bought all the tickets. This is a landing strip for crop dusters by day, and by night…”

As if on cue, the screen at the end of the landing strip lit up. Nova gasped, and I couldn’t help but feel insanely pleased with myself.

“It's a drive-in movie theater?” she squeaked out.

“Exactly.”

There was one old dude in a pick-up who waved as we drove past. Pulling up where I thought was a good spot right in front, I backed up so the tailgate was facing the screen. Nova’s eyes hadn’t left it. Out here in the empty darkness, it did seem kind of magical.

I ushered her out of the car and into the rear cargo area of my SUV. I’d put all the seats down already, and spread out blankets and pillows. “River…” she breathed, and I just kissed her lips softly as I hoisted her into the back of my car, climbing in after her. “What are we watching?”

“Back To The Future, both One and Two. And we’ve also got…” I reached over to the back seat and pulled out a cooler bag with food I’d collected from a restaurant this afternoon. “Gourmet lunchables. Well, the restaurant didn’t call them that, but it's basically what it is, right?”

She shook her head, laughing, but looked inside the container I handed her. “This looks delicious.”

I reached back into the bag and pulled out two popcorn tubs. “Popcorn and candy mix. And wine.”

She shook her head, her smile so wide, it was appling her cheeks. “You’ve thought of everything.”

I linked the Bluetooth of the theater’s radio channel to my entertainment system, and the sound of the movie came over the speakers. Pulling Nova toward me, I hugged her close. “I wanted this to be perfect.”

She kissed my chest. “It is. It’s the most perfect first date I’ve ever been on.”

She went silent as the opening scene of the movie appeared in the darkness, the stars around it like cinema lights. It was fucking perfect, but I wasn’t done yet. I fed her little bits of cured meat and oil-dipped bread, as we laughed at the actors on the screen. We drank wine and talked.

And it was fucking blissful.

But nothing was better than lying amongst the pillows, full and content, a little bit buzzed on red wine, watching the movie play in Nova’s eyes. Her arm was around my middle, her head pillowed on my bicep, her small hand snaked under my Henley so she could scrape her nails over my abs.