I reached my fingers inside to pull out a few chocolate chips and threw them in my mouth, savoring their gooey goodness, and then kept on walking. Just like that.
Things were always so different with Luke, but in a good way. My heart always felt…full around him. No matter the situation. Whether I was rolling my eyes at him, or whether he was covering me up in bed, I felt happy with him. Even now as I watched him eat a handful of chocolate, I felt completely content.
“So, just to be clear,” I said. “We brought the chocolate chips to eat?”
“Mmhm. They’re my favorite snack.”
I laughed and he turned to me, grinning with the left side of his mouth turned upward. I quickly pulled my gaze from his, because that grin got me…
Every.
Single.
Time.
We walked another block, and I checked my phone to make sure I hadn’t been called in to work yet. Then the thought hit me.
“What if he shoots you?! What if he thinks you’re a burglar?”
Luke ignored me with an exasperated breath.
“Seriously, Luke. He has a gun! He’s one of those guys who always carries one to seem more important than he really is.”
He snorted. “Seriously? Why were you dating someone like him?”
Grant wasn’t all bad. He was attractive with his blond hair and deep blue eyes. He always wore nice clothes and he made me laugh, sometimes. But now that we’d been apart and I’d have had time to reflect, I realized I had no idea what I was thinking.
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, anyway.”
“What doesn’t matter?”
“If he shoots me.”
I asked, “What? Why?”
He scoffed. “Because I’m bulletproof.”
A sharp pain hit me right in the chest for two reasons: 1. No one was bulletproof. Alex wasn’t, and unless Luke was secretly some sort of superhero, he wasn’t bulletproof, either. 2. The thought of Luke getting shot sent a surge of panic down my spine.
Yep. I’m definitely screwed.
I whispered, “No one is bulletproof, Luke.”
The air around us swirled with tension, especially when Luke didn’t say anything. He stopped on the sidewalk, facing the old, moss-covered benches of a nearby church. It was one of my favorite places in New Bern. It was right in the middle of town, the ground lined with eroding bricks, and there was a little spot up front where the pastor would stand for outside sermons, or weddings. I used to imagine myself getting married there, in the middle of a spring day, with bright yellow flowers blooming all around.
I slowly stepped away from Luke and his rigid posture. I ran my fingers along the wooden benches, wondering if I would ever find someone to marry. I was only twenty-five, but with JoJo engaged and all my other friends in serious, long-term relationships, it often made me wonder if I was always going to be alone. I felt like a loner.
Maybe I would end up like Ms. Deacon.
Maybe I would get a cat. Or ten.
I could feel Luke’s presence behind me before he said anything. The space between us was bouncing with electricity.
“I know better than anyone that no one is bulletproof.”
I didn’t turn around. Instead, I crept further down the aisle between the benches and took a seat. I didn’t want to prod him. I knew that he knew no one was bulletproof. I knew he was joking when he’d said that a few minutes ago. And I could tell by the way his voice lacked its usual dominance that he had some demons buried deep inside him. If he wanted me to know, he could tell me. If not, then we would stay here in silence for as long as he needed. I was fine with just sitting here, while he sorted through his memories. I was just going to make sure to sit in this exact spot so he knew that someone was here for him.