“I know you may not think that, but with jet lag and the time difference—”
“Okay, thanks, Cosmo. I think I’m good,” she said, waving him off and turning her head away. She didn’t care to hear any more of Cosmo’s pity.
She watched from the corner of her eye until Cosmo finally walked away, leaving her alone with Harold once again. When she turned back to face him, his mouth was twisted, as if trying to assess how to fill the silence.
“I’m sorry I didn’t see them,” he finally said. “My eyesight’s not so good anyway.”
“But you believe me, right?” she asked.
“Sure, I do.”
“And you don’t think I’m crazy?”
“Nah,” Harold said, swatting his hand in front of his chest. “Maybe a little kooky for wanting to hang around an old fart like me, but I know crazy when I see it. Like that Roberta, for instance.”
Dani snickered. Glad she wasn’t the only one who thought so.
But then she sighed. “What if Cosmo was right?” she asked.
“Right about what?”
“About me making him up in my mind because Iwantedto see him?”
“Do you?”
“Of course I do. I wish nothing more than that he was still alive.”
“Because you love him?”
Dani shot her gaze to Harold’s. His question threw her off guard. How could he possibly know that? She hadn’t told him about her feelings toward Theo. She’d never toldanyonehow she truly felt about him. Not even Beau.
“I mean, of course I love him,” she said. “He’s been in my life since I was six years old. He’s practically family.”
“Okay,” Harold said, “if you say so.” He reached across the table and patted her hand.
Dani tilted her head, now full-on staring at Harold. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“My eyesight might not be good anymore, but my hearing is still impeccable,” he said, tapping on his ear.
She eyed him, curiously.
“The way you’ve been talking about him,” he continued. “I’d been in love with my Patty for fifty years. You talk about Theo the same way I do her. You’ve got an airiness to your voice when you say his name. Like even now, he takes your breath away.”
Oh God.She’d never realized she spoke about him that way. Hopefully no one else—such as Eddie—had ever realized it, either.
“I…I…” she stuttered.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to explain. Sometimes there’s no explaining to do. Love is love. It is what it is.”
“But we were…we weren’t together,” she explained.
“Doesn’t matter. Did he know how you felt?”
Dani shook her head.
“And why not?”
“He’s my brother’s best friend. I think he pictured me as his own kid sister, nothing more.”
