“I don’t dance,” Thad answered.
“Oh, come on. You at least do the Electric Slide at cookouts.”
He shook his head. “Nope.”
“Seriously?” Ashanti held out her hand. “That’s an unforgivable offense. Give me your Black card.”
“Hey, no relinquishing of the Black card.” He laughed. “I’m usually the one manning the grill at the cookout, so I get a pass.”
She gave him a suspicious look before dropping her hand. “Okay, you’re forgiven. It’s still no excuse for never dancing.”
“I didn’t say Ineverdance. I can’t tell you how many Army balls I’ve had to attend over the last decade.”
“That doesn’t count. You can’t do any real dancing in those starched uniforms.” She took a bite of her vanilla cupcake with strawberry frosting and released a moan. “I swear, if I’d known how good these cupcakes really were, I would have bought a dozen.”
“Agreed,” Thad said. “They’re definitely worth a trip back to that bakery before we leave New York.”
“You mentioned your sweet tooth at the airport, but to see it in action is another thing entirely.” She bumped him on the arm with her elbow. “I would have thought a soldier would have more discipline when it came to sugar.”
He held his hands up. “I’m not saying I would have divulged state secrets for a box of Little Debbies, but it’s a good thing I was never put to the test.”
There was that humor again. He could not possibly know how, of any of the characteristics a person could possess,having the ability to make her laugh was the one she cherished above all.
She blamed Ridley. She was the one who’d ordered him to be more charismatic. He had turned the charm up several notches tonight and Ashanti wasnotokay. It made it even harder to fight these growing feelings she didn’t even want to acknowledge she had for him.
“So why the Army?” she asked as they stood under the massive curved electronic billboard above the Hershey’s Chocolate World store, waiting for the light to change.
Thad hitched a shoulder. “Because I didn’t want to become a dry cleaner.”
Her head jerked back at his unexpected answer. “Were those your only options?”
“It felt that way at the time.” He licked frosting off his knuckle, and Ashanti almost forgot how to breathe. She forced herself to look away so he couldn’t glean what that innocent act had done to her.
“This is a sidewalk, not a parking lot,” a woman pulling a wheeled trolley bag said as she edged past them.
“Yikes,” Ashanti said. “That was a good one, though. I might have to use that the next time I’m stuck behind a bunch of tourists in the French Quarter.”
When they crossed the street, Thad pointed to the red TKTS bleachers in the middle of the pedestrian area. “Let’s grab a seat. You can take in Times Square for a few minutes.”
They climbed about a dozen rows and settled in the center of the bleachers. Ashanti set the cupcake bag between them, then looked up at the buildings stretching skyward. Their stories-tall LCD screens advertised everything from perfume to tennis shoes. She was tempted to take her phone out and snappictures, but she could find a million photos of these buildings on Google in a matter of seconds. She wanted to live in this moment. To soak it in so she could remember how it felt.
“I can’t believe I’m finally here. And I can’t believe my dog is the reason behind my visit,” she said. “I’ve wanted to come to New York ever since seeing that movieWeekend at Bernie’s.”
“Doesn’t most of that movie take place in the Hamptons?”
“Yes, but there’s a scene where Larry and Richard are on a rooftop and the New York skyline is all around them. That was enough for me to decide that I had to visit this place one day.”
She nudged his shoulder.
“Back to you and this decision to enter the Army,” she said. “Let me guess. You were a troublemaker and your grandfather gave you an ultimatum after high school, either join the family business where he could keep an eye on you, or enter the military where Uncle Sam could do the watching?”
“Umm…” He wiggled his hand. “You’re kind of on the right track. Actually, no you’re not,” he laughed. “I was never a troublemaker, and my grandfather never gave me any kind of ultimatum. But it felt as if joining the military was the only profession I could choose outside of Sutherland Dry Cleaning that wouldn’t disappoint him. His older brothers were all in the Army, so nothing was more noble than entering the service.”
He put both feet up on the bleacher below and rested his elbows on his raised knees.
“The initial plan was for me to do my four years, earn my degree, and then gently break it to Gramps that I wanted a job that required a suit and tie—that’s how he referred to corporate jobs. But I fell in love with military life.” He folded hishands and rested his chin on them. “And since my entire reason for becoming a soldier was to make my grandfather proud, I decided to stick with it.”
“So your grandfather was still proud, even though you never joined the family business?”
