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Aiesha looked at hi about him was so incredibly special His patience His sensitivity His kindness Her heart felt so heavy at the thought of when this tiether would be over Hoould she ever find soiant hole of loneliness inside her once he was out of her life?

She took a little breath and slowly released it, her gaze going back to her drink ‘I hated everything about my childhood I hated the poverty I hated the cruelty I hated the fact I didn’t fit in For as long as I can re The only way I could escape ith music’

‘How did you learn to play the piano?’ he asked ‘Did you have formal lessons?’

Aiesha kept looking at the tiny wooden spines on the umbrella ‘There was a piano in the church hall a block away froo there and play it for hours The pastor didn’t see a few htwas much harder to learn I listened to CDs when I could but I’ll never be good enough to play anywhere but a dingy nightclub’

‘But you play like a professional’

She screwed up her h to play in front of a sober audience Not my own stuff, that is’

He leaned forward and took one of her hands in his ‘But you’re so talented That music you played the other day It was so e It was like a soundtrack to a really emotional movie Do you have more like that? Stuff you’ve written yourself?’

Aiesha looked at her hand in his The engageer He was so perfect Why had she taken this long to realise it? Or had she always realised it? He was perfect but she rong for hi trouble for hih trouble in the past? She brought her gaze up to his ‘You’re nothing like him, you know’

His brows met over his eyes ‘Who?’

‘Your father’

His expression clouded as he released her hand and sat back fro to convince myself of that’

‘It’s true, Jaers around his strong, capable ones ‘He doesn’t care about anyone but himself You care Look at the way you looked after your ot a proper division of the assets Your father would have swindled her out of her fair share but you stood up for her You even paid the lawyer’s bill And you bought her Lochbannon You visit her whenever you can You worry about her hooking up with a guy you’ve never , I don’t knohat is’

His mouth twisted as he looked down at their joined hands ‘I used to thinkOK Not superhappybut OK’ He looked at her again ‘I guess I didn’t want to see racious, didn’t want to ruin my relationship with him But it cost her dearly For year after year she put up with my father’s affairs so I could have what she considered a nor She came from a broken home and kne hard it was for kids with shared custody arrangements’

Aiesha stroked the length of his thuainst her hand ‘It must have been a shock to finally find out the truth about him’

‘It was’ He flattened his mouth as if the memory disturbed hi I believed in was false Love Marriage Commitment It made me wonder if anyone was ever happy with their lot That everyone was out there pretending to be OK when they were anything but’

‘I’ht’ She looked at the way his thu—her fake engagely

He turned her hand over in his, giving it a gentle squeeze ‘Want to dance?’

Aiesha slipped her arainst his chest as he led her in a sloaltz on the s in his arms felt safe Made her feel anchored Made her feel loved

Loved?

James didn’t love her He cared about her Like he cared about everybody He was a responsible person who took others’ welfare seriously She would be a fool to conjure up one of her pointless little dreams None of her dreams had ever come to life None of her prayers had ever been answered None of her planets had ever aligned