I squeeze his hand. “Yes.”
“I painted Lexi’s cast yesterday.” Corey rubs his neck. “She’d been asking me to paint it since she first had it on, but…” He sighs. “I didn’t feel like it until you got me painting again.” He glances at me. “Thank you.”
“Did you take a photo?”
“Yeah.”
“Can I see?”
“You’re really interested?”
“Yes.”
He pulls his phone out of his pocket and shows me a close-up picture of Lexi’s cast. Half of it is covered in people’s names, but the other half has sunflowers and butterflies painted on it.
“Wow. She’s not going to want to have it taken off.”
Corey slides to the next photo, which is of Lexi beaming with pride as she shows off the cast. “Will she be able to keep it?”
“I don’t see why not.”
Corey smiles and puts his phone away. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see soon enough. I know all about your passion for art. I thought you might like to know about one of mine.”
“I do.”
We get off at Fenchurch Street and walk the short distance to Tower Gateway to get on the Dockland Light Railway.
“Well… we’re either going to the cable car, Greenwich, or London City Airport. Are you a plane-watcher?”
I laugh. “No. Are you?”
“I’ve never even been on a plane. Why would I want to watch them taking off and landing?”
“You’ve never been on one?”
“Nope. Mum’s terrified of flying, so we always holidayed in the UK. It didn’t really matter where we were. Archie, Blake, and I could always make our own fun. So if we’re not going to the airport… Greenwich?”
“The observatory, yes.”
Corey grins at me. “You like stars?”
I nod. “I had a telescope as a kid and was an avid stargazer.”
“Are you sure you just watched the stars?”
“Yes,” I reply with mock indignation. “What else would I have done with a telescope?”
He shrugs and laughs before leaning close to whisper in my ear. “I’m glad you found your naughty side as a grown-up.”
His tone makes me shiver. Although I hadn’t planned on ending the date back at my place, I add it to the itinerary in my head.
“You and Blake would get along,” Corey says.
“Oh?”
“He used tolovestargazing as a kid.” He frowns. “Until he stopped. I guess he grew out of it. I haven’t heard him talk about stars in years.”
