“That was brave, moving several states away. Is there anyone you miss back home?”
She shook her head. “Just my friend, Nia. She was the only one who wanted to be my friend. I spent a lot of time reading, and other kids thought I was weird. Especially in high school.”
“In my high school, they thought I was a thug,” he said.
Aleena giggled. “No way, you were a thug?”
He leaned over the table and grinned. “Actually, I was. I didn’t take crap from anyone.”
Her eyes widened, and then she chuckled. “I wish I could have been a thug. I got a lot of crap from people.”
“Oh, honey. I have to tell you, you’d make an awful thug.”
Her brows snapped together. “Why?”
“Because you’re so darn sweet. Everything about you is feminine and beautiful.”
She reached across the table and squeezed his hand. “That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
“You’ll get more of it from me.”
They stared at each other, and the room seemed to fade away until all she saw and heard was him. Glasses clanging together broke the spell she was under.
“Where did you grow up?” she asked.
“It was just my mom and me. My dad split when I was young. I grew up on the south side of the city. It was a rough place.”
“I’m sorry to hear about your dad.”
He shrugged. “We did okay. My mom had an excellent job for the city, so we never went hungry.”
“Where is she?”
“She had a brain aneurism in her sleep one night. I found her.”
Tears burned Aleena’s eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
He caressed the back of her hands with his thumbs. “It worked out. I was eighteen, so I didn’t have to go into the system. Because she worked for the city, they took care of the burial, and she had a life insurance policy. I used that to finish high school, and it got me through three years of college. The rest I had to take out with school loans.”
“It seems like we have a bit in common,” she said.
“Yeah, we’re both alone in the world. But now we have each other.”
She smiled at him. “Yeah, we do.”
“How about we get out of here and go sight-seeing? There are several small towns that I’ve never seen.”
“I’d like that very much.”
He stood, threw down some bills to cover the food and tip, and then wrapped an arm around her waist.
Chapter Eight
They drove to a few small towns and walked down the streets, sometimes moving into one of the stores if something caught their fancy.
Once again, he seemed to always have a hand on her, and it was getting to where she felt something missing if he wasn’t handling her. She was coming to crave his touch more and more.
They grabbed sandwiches for lunch and ate at a park they found.