Matt had simply said that she should let him know how they turned out because he was a little interested, but he hadn’t actually thought about how she would do so. Maybe he had just thought that he would magically see her in the same supermarket and she would detail exactly how the red sauce had improved her life. Of course, that was foolish. They had cell phones for a reason.

“Oh, yeah. ‘Course,” Matt said, pulling his phone out of his back pocket. He didn’t often give his number out, especially to strangers, but she didn’t look particularly dangerous. It was a old phone that he had; outdated by several models, but it still did the job. He opened the home screen and handed it to her, the contacts page already open. She could stick her number in there any then tell him all about the success or failure of the recipe. And find out how terrible he was at texting. Autocorrect could be cruel when you had reduced range of motion.

For most people, there was some sort of occasion with cooking. Some sort of reason to make a dish that large. Matt did admire people who just cooked for the sake of it, though. There was something lost in the world of technology and delivery food and it was rare to see.

He nodded quickly at the notion of trying new foods. “Yeah, that’s important. The world’s a big place,” he mused. He’d had the unique experience of seeing more than most people, but horizons could still be broadened from the place you’d always called home.

Matt had his phone out faster than she could dig hers out. Probably because he was a guy, and had a cart, so he didn’t need to juggle a shopping basket while digging in a purse. So, when Matt held out his phone to her, open to the add contact screen, Zoe punched in her name and number, as well as a little note to remind him who she was, that she was making enchiladas.

Once she got that saved, she handed Matt’s phone back before digging hers out for reciprocal treatment. He did say he wanted to know how her enchiladas turned out, and he wasn’t guaranteed to message her asking, now was he?

While she waited for him to enter his number, Zoe nodded at his next words. ”It is a big place,” Zoe agreed. ”I don’t make enough money, and am far too self-conscious, to always be going to new restaurants by myself all the time to try new foods. So that only leaves me with two options, and since I like cooking…” Zoe trailed off, giving the man a slight shrug. He had to understand her inference, and if not, that was too bad.

”To be honest, one of the only problems I ever have is the leftovers,” Zoe admitted after a moment. ”I cook too often to really eat all of the leftovers before they go to bad. I guess that’s the downfall of cooking for one.”

After Zoe had entered in her number, Matt took his phone back and slid it into his back pocket. It was unusual for him to take numbers from people, really. Usually, he would just curve girls at the bar that asked, unless they were just looking for something that was for one night and one night only. He had to be feeling particularly self-destructive for that sort of thing, though.

Typically, he figured that he was better off alone. He had taken Svetlana’s number, but that was a different story. They were two of a kind, and taking her number had seemed like something that would need to happen. It just made sense. There were few other people that he would pour out his soul to and play guitar for on his roof. It was platonic, though. Entirely platonic.

Zoe was a strange exception. The words had tumbled out of his mouth like nothing, but now he was starting to regret them. Was he giving her the wrong idea? All that mention about eating alone and leftovers... it sounded an awful lot like some of the girls who went into his bar and tried to get him to take them home. It was the mating call of the lonely. Matt was lonely sometimes, too, but he was better off that way.

He had paused while typing in his number into his phone. It probably did look like he was trying to do that with her. Getting her number, asking about her cooking, that sort of thing. It looked like flirting. She was doing it back, too, though, which always surprised him when he wore his wedding ring out. It didn’t deter everyone.

“Look, uh- just so you know, I’m not really looking for the whole ‘dating’ thing…” he said, trailing off. Maybe he was jumping to conclusions, but it was better to set up the boundaries earlier rather than later and watch it spiral.

This was good, Zoe couldn’t help but think, as she watched Matt type his number into her phone. He’d given her a recipe that was supposed to make her enchiladas that much better, and she was getting his number so she could tell him how it turned out. And that meant she’d be able to ask questions if she somehow managed to mess it up. Even better.

But then Zoe noticed that he seemed to be hesitating as he was putting his number in.That was odd, she thought. Though as he started speaking, Zoe realized the reason why he had probably hesitated. She had been flirting, at least as well as she was able to, and he didn’t want to date anyone he said.

And as Matt handed her phone back, she saw the reason why as a ring glinted on his finger. That she had not noticed until now. ”Yeah, well, dating never seems to work well for me anyway,” Zoe replied, verbally brushing Matt’s comment off. And it was true, she had just kind of figured since the conversation had been going well, she would give it a try. But since she things never really went well even when she managed to get a date, there really was no loss here.

”I am looking forward to these enchiladas more now, though,” she told Matt.