We sat in a booth, our legs touching. He even put his hand on my thigh a time or two.
We didn’t need to sit this close, there was plenty of room, but this was us now. Occasional touches, hand-holding. One time, he even put his hand on my lower back when he’d held a door for me.
I was on cloud nine every single day.
The best way to describe how Deacon loves is quietly. There’s no extravagant fanfare or excessive parades of attentionor declarations. His love is honest and sincere and with the entirety of his whole heart. It’s so deep and consuming that it could be almost overwhelming if it weren’t so gentle and pure.
I could read a thousand poems about the depth of the ocean, the immense force of its ebbs and flows, the undercurrent of emotion. Or the vastness of stars, infinite and perfect, full of wonder.
But not even the words of Keats, Shakespeare, or Dickinson could capture the way Deacon loves me.
He was a single flower. Not a field of flowers. Just one. It might seem simple to some, but it was anything but simple. It was complex and beautiful and had just waited for the perfect moment of sunshine before it could bloom.
That was how Deacon loved me.
And I counted myself as the luckiest man on the planet to be loved by him.
“I’m glad today went well,” I said. “But I should get back to the store and close up for Ro.”
“Okay, thanks again for your help today,” Wayne said. “Don’t you boys be out too late tonight.”
It was a given that Deacon would be coming with me. We were pretty much inseparable these days.
Ro was happy to see me. “Oh, I was beginning to wonder where you were?” she said.
“Hmm,” I hedged. “Late for something? Have a hot date tonight? Did I see Toni in here earlier today?”
She leveled me a mind-your-business glare and grabbed her bag. “Don’t wait up for me tonight.”
I gasped. “I want details!” I called out, but she was already out the door.
“Do you really?” Deacon asked. He was straightening up some merchandise. “Want details? That seems an odd thing to want. She’s your aunt, after all.”
I laughed. “I’m just teasing her. But yes, I want to know. Not the intimate details, of course, but the swoony romantic stuff.”
He smiled, distracted, but before I could ask him if he was okay, he nodded to the front window display. “Your Valentine’s Day theme will need to be changed.”
“I have the best Easter one ready to go up this week. It’s a Peter Rabbit theme, and there are 3D paper bunnies and little paper Easter eggs. It’s going to be amazing. Though I will miss the Valentine one.”
The hot air balloon in the shape of a love heart will definitely be back out next year.
Deacon smiled again, but his eyes flinched and he didn’t seem to know whether to keep his hands in his pockets or by his side.
“Everything okay?” I asked, closing out the till.
Something was definitely not okay.
“Yes. Are you almost done?”
I locked the money away and took one last look around the store. There was nothing that couldn’t wait until tomorrow. “Sure.”
He waited for me to lock the door, and when I gave him a big smile, he quickly looked away. “Walk with me?”
Oh . . .
“Of course,” I said, and we headed toward the river.
The sun was getting low, rays of fading golden sunlight filtered through the green trees. Birds were chirping, people were walking dogs, laughing.
