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Dane takes one hand in his and nestles the other in the small of my back He pulls me into him

I force a s as I look up into his handsoin to move It’s impossible to process the innu my senses

His hand on ne The tender yet lively emotion in his eyes

The fabric of his shirt is soft and the palh But his smile? It’s sweet and it’s for me

“This song is ironic, isn’t it?” I ask

“How do you mean?”

“I eneral”

He pulls me even closer to him

“Every time I hear it, I think it ritten for me” I close my eyes and listen to the words “I’ve prayed for so ry about it or disappointed or sad And then so else happens, and I see why they weren’t answered” So for me

We sway to thecloser and closer I remember the tears when Derrick left—they’re still all too real—and how absolutely destroyed I felt

But if that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t be here

I would still be in a ht without ever touching during the day He never told ether for our family, and he never, ever took me out on a date

Derrick avoidedif we could take an anniversary trip He uessed everything I thought and did

There was more to life than the one I led with my husband I was more than the person I’d become I think I knew it even then I was just too scared to consider it

It took Derrick walking out and turning my life upside down for me to land on my oo feet

I tilt aze is snatched out of the air by Dane’s He smiles

“I don’t know,” he says, his voice so low that I’m sure I’o unanswered are really an answering of others”

“How do you mean?”

“Well,” he says, licking his lips “Let’s say that I wanted todoith someday”

A shiver runs down my spine

“And I thought it was someone specific,” he continues “How can I immediately think that the prayer was unanswered if it ultimately comes true? It’s just with someone I hadn’t met yet”

His hand strokes ently

“That’s so we haven’t even eaten yet,” I joke, not sure what to do with his revelation