My tongue darted out, touching a hint of sweetness as well as the roughness of the pad of Bodie’s thumb. My heart thumped, and my blood warmed.
I released my hold on the bottle and grabbed the unopened one. I swapped the two, careful not to brush my skin against his again.
“We should trade now that I drank half of yours.” Avoiding his eyes, I took a quick sip of soda before biting carefully into my cooled pizza roll. I savored the delicious flavors as the tension in the air slowly dissipated. “Are you saving up for something particular?” I asked, hoping my voice didn’t sound unnatural as I tried to get back to our conversation.
Bodie shrugged, suddenly looking a tad bashful. It was both cute and sexy on him.
“I’m thinking of going back to college.” He said it like a confession. “I dropped out last time, halfway through my sophomore year. I thought I had better things to do with my life. Like backpacking across Europe.”
“That does sound amazing.” I’d never been to Europe. The only time I’d ever left the country was on a road trip to Canada when I was twelve.
“I was so broke that some nights I slept under the stars,” he continued. “But, yeah, it was amazing.”
“I’d love to go to Europe one day,” I said with a sigh, knowing any sort of travel was out of my reach for the foreseeable future.
“You’ll get there.” Bodie nudged a dipping sauce closer to me. “You’ve got to try the ranch.”
I did, and it was heavenly.
“I think it’s really great what you’re doing, by the way,” Bodie said as he grabbed a third roll for himself.
I dipped my second pizza roll in the ranch sauce and sent him a sidelong glance laced with incredulity. “Pretending to be a detective while I’m unemployed?”
He shook his head, taking a moment to swallow before clarifying. “Raising your niece. It can’t be easy, suddenly becoming a single parent when you’ve never had kids before.”
“It’s not easy,” I admitted as I wiped my fingers on a paper napkin. “Well, Livy makes it as easy as it possibly could be. It’s just…”
“A major adjustment?”
I offered him a ghost of a smile. “You could say that. But, honestly, looking after Livy has actually helped me.”
“With the loss of your brother?”
I looked at him with surprise. I’d never mentioned Ethan to him before.
He gave me a sheepish smile tinged with sadness. “Our neighbors like to talk.”
I didn’t really mind. Not this time, anyway.
“Yes, with losing my brother.” A lump rose in my throat. I swallowed hard to suppress it.
Bodie looked down at his hands, empty now that he’d finished eating. “I think I can see how it would.” He let out a breath before continuing. “My kid sister died when she was twenty-one. Hit by a drunk driver.”
My heart plummeted. “Oh my God. Bodie, I’m so sorry.”
“Thanks. She wasn’t married, or even thinking about having kids at that age, but sometimes I wonder if she’d had a few more years, if she’d left behind a son or daughter, maybe it would be like…” He shrugged and looked away from me.
“Like there was a little piece of her still here with you?” I asked, my voice soft and a little shaky.
He met my gaze and swallowed hard, like he too had a lump of emotion rising up in his throat. “Yeah.”
I rested a hand on his arm. He covered it with one of his own.
As we shared a long look of understanding, I sensed a gossamer thread spilling out from me and winding around his fingers, his wrist, his arm. Tears filled my eyes, but I didn’t want to cry, so I gave Bodie’s arm a gentle squeeze and released it, averting my gaze and gathering up the remains of our meal.
“Don’t worry about that,” Bodie said. “I’ll get it.”
I stacked our plates but left the rest and stood up.
