He drew a breath. “I need to tell you a story.”
She tilted her head, surprise lighting her weary eyes. “You don’t tell stories.”
“I also don’t dance, and we’ve been down that road a few times.”
She crossed her arms. “You don’t have to do this, Linc. You made your thoughts really clear earlier. I just came to check the lamppost for Amelia, thought she might have come here.”
“Your hunch was right.” Linc nodded. “She did.”
“Then I saw the crowd, and wanted to make sure she was okay.”
Of course she did—because that was Zoey. Unselfish to the same fault that he was selfish. He reached toward her, but she stepped back.
He started anyway. “Once upon a time…”
* * *
Zoey narrowed her eyes, but Linc kept on, crossing the wet grass as she continued inching back. “There was a young boy whose mom got really sick. He didn’t have any grandparents or other family, and his father was uninvolved, more interested in his career and side relationships than his family.”
“One day, the mother went to the hospital and never came home, while the dad decided that was the perfect time to turn his hobbies into addictions.”
Oh. Her heart stammered.
Linc inched forward, close enough to touch her now, but he didn’t. Did she want him to?Yes. Her heart ached for him, her arms ached to touch him. But his earlier words still rang in her head, rejecting her…
He stood still, hands shoved in his pockets. “The boy tried to make him happy, but nothing worked. The dad was gone more and more, until finally the courts got involved.”
Zoey froze. She knew he was a foster kid, but?—
“The boy’s father signed away his parental rights, right there in the courtroom that day. Surrounded by business suits and security guards and hard wooden benches, the boy became an orphan. Just like that.”
Oh my gosh. The ache spread. “Linc…”
“His last memory of his father was through a curtain of tears, as he was physically dragged off. Sliding on his belly across the courtroom floor, screaming, while his father looked the other way.”
No wonder. Hot tears crested her cheeks. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”
“I never told anyone that.” Linc looked down, then up. “And I don’t tell you now for pity. I just wanted you to know why it was so important to me that Amelia never have that memory for herself. That’s why I didn’t take your advice—even when you were right.”
Ha. She’d hardly gotten it right. And yet…“Everything turned out the way it was supposed to.” Working for good…mostly, anyway.
“Not everything. Not yet.” He reached out, pulled her hand free from her pocket, threaded their fingers. Her skin lit on fire. “I’ve always been alone, Zoey. I had foster parents who took care of me, but it was never a family. It was a job for them. It’s why I never tried to make us more than friends before.”
Her weary heart soared. “You mean…you thought about it before?”
“Of course I did.” Linc took her other hand, rubbed the ring on her finger with his thumb. She stared at it, vision blurring. “But you were always more important than my wants. I couldn’t risk messing it up. Messingusup. Was afraid I’d lose you.”
“Until Amelia came along.”
He nodded. “I thought marrying you would guarantee your staying. Then everything started falling apart.”
That was one way to put it.
“When we kissed, I thought for sure I’d messed it up. But you seemed to want the same thing, and?—”
Boy, did she.
“—for a minute, I had this…hope.” Linc shook his head. “It’s dumb. But the stuff with Kirsten threw me back to the past, and then when Amelia left, I panicked.”
