“Yes, D-Marco. I’ll be right back.”
I didn’t offer to help him change because we weren’t there yet, and it was too soon to say if we would ever be. Although…I hoped so.
A few minutes later, he came back wearing dry jeans and thick wool socks. “Better?”
“Very nice. Your toes will be toasty warm in those.”
He wriggled his feet and grinned. “Toasty toes.”
If he was any more adorable, I’d have him cuddled on my lap in two seconds flat.
“So, what did you want to ask me?” His question drew me back to the moment and away from the cartoon bunny on his T-shirt.
“Oh, I wondered if you’d like to come out to dinner with me tomorrow night? Maybe to the diner on the next block?”
His eyes lit up. “Yes, please. I’d like that a lot.”
“And maybe a scoop of ice cream on the way home?”
He bounced, giving me my first real peek at the boy inside. “I’ll eat all my vegetables!” Then his brow scrunched up. “I don’t think they have any vegetables at the diner.”
Turned out, they did, but we were having a “big” dinner and I didn’t suggest he order them. We both had their chicken finger baskets and talked about the repairs in the building and other ordinary things, yet it was still the nicest evening I’d had in months.
He was warm, funny, and I wanted to get to know him better.
And when we got to the ice cream parlor, which was nearly deserted since it was almost closing time, we sat close together at a table for two and talked even more.
Riggs licked some drips from the side of his double-chocolate cone and flashed me another beautiful smile. “I was very worried when I saw you looking at the book.”
“I could tell.” I scooped up a bite of fudge ribbon from the bowl I’d chosen over a cone. “And now?”
He licked at the cone again for a while before answering. “No, I think I’m not sorry at all.”
The evening wore on there, while we talked and I watched him become more animated all the time. Still big but more relaxed and cheerful, opening up about his life a bit until stuffed with ice cream and chicken fingers, I walked him home and left him with a hug at his door.
A hug and plans to get together again.
Chapter 5
Riggs
I’d been on a few dates with Marco over the past week. At first, I thought it was to make things easier for me, given all the work that was being done at my place. But the more time we spent together, the less I believed that to be the case. Marco liked me. He really liked me.
And I liked him, too. A lot. Almost too much, given we hadn’t spoken about the elephant in the room since that night and then, only barely.
“You’re not going to be able to use the bathroom tonight,” the worker interrupted my thoughts which, like pretty much always, were all on Marco.
“I’m sorry, say again?” I looked up at him trying to figure out why I couldn’t pee if he was just working on the water damage.
“We opened up the walls to replace things, and it looks like the water got behind the tiles even before this, and we are treating mold.” Which I was taking to mean, it wasn’t as bad as it could be. I’d known people who had to leave their homes for mold removal.
“Oh. Okay. So, just no using the bathroom, but the rest is fine?”
He nodded.
“For how long?” I didn’t really have the money for a hotel, but a day or two I could manage.
“Just tonight, I think. We caught things just in time but I will have to tape up the door…”
