“Go ahead.”
She doesn’t look at me. “I didn’t know you ever went hungry.”
“Did you give it a second thought?” The words come out in monotone. I’m not trying to make her feel bad. I just know most people never give food a second thought because they’ve always had it.
“No, I didn’t,” she says, finally bringing her head up to meet my gaze. “I’ve never gone hungry, and I never realized how lucky I am. I’m going to try not to take things like that for granted anymore.”
I trail a finger over her cheek. “Good. You should never take anything for granted. It can all be gone in a minute.”
I’m happy Skye has never known hunger. I don’t wish for her to know anything that feels so hopeless. Hunger did do something very profound for me, though. It gave me drive. It gave me passion. It taught me to never turn my back on any opportunity, no matter how small.
And it taught me to never give up. To never lose the drive to be better. Because…it can all be gone in a minute.
I know.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “The thought of you going to bed hungry makes me so sad.”
“Don’t be sorry, and please don’t be sad. Everything in my past has contributed to what I’ve become. Just as it has for you. Maybe you don’t have one thing you can pinpoint. But tell me something about your past. Something that helped shape who you are today.”
“Do I really have to go into this?” She bites on her lower lip.
I’m so close to letting her off the hook, but I lob a softball at her. One I’m pretty sure she won’t resist. “No. I’ll never force you to tell me anything.”
“Thanks.”
Silence for a few minutes. Then she speaks.
“When I was seven, I was playing by myself in our cornfields.”
She closes her eyes for a moment, while I imagine a carefree little girl, long hair flying, amusing herself among the tall stalks.
“By yourself?” I ask.
“Yeah. I’m an only child, and none of my friends lived close by. I saw them only at school until I got older. Anyway, I got lost.”
“In the cornfield?” I raise my eyebrows.
“Don’t look so surprised. Our cornfields are huge. We have more than two hundred acres. I was only allowed to play at the very edge of the field where someone could keep an eye on me. Anyway, I got caught up chasing a praying mantis.”
“Somehow, I never took you for an e
ntomophile.”
“I was seven, Braden, with the attention span of a praying mantis myself. They’re green, as you know, and it was a challenge to see it as it hopped from one stalk to another. I followed it with my camera I’d gotten for my birthday. I wanted to take its picture.”
I smile. “You were having fun.”
“I was. There wasn’t much else to do.”
“Except outrun tornadoes.”
She gives me a good-natured smack on my upper arm. “I won’t deny taking shelter from a few in my day, but you can’t outrun a tornado. You shouldn’t try.”
“Dorothy did.”
“You watch too much TV.”
“I don’t watch any TV.” Did she notice I have only one television in my entire penthouse? Probably not, since she hasn’t seen my entire penthouse.