That’s an impossible question to answer when you’ve never been in love. “You know when you look at him and lose theability to breathe…to think. When your world shrinks down to the two of you, even if you’re in a room full of people. If, when he touches your hand, you never want it to stop. But you can’t know if he feels all those things unless you ask him. So, what you need to do is talk to him. Don’t play games. Just be frank with him.”
“And you think of Canyon like that?”
“Hope, that’s an extremely personal question. It’s intrusive and rude.”
She grins. “And you aren’t in love.”
“Hope Vincenti, that’s none of your business.”
“What if he says no? How do I change his mind?”
“You don’t. You accept his choices.”
“That’s stupid.”
It kind of is. “It’s respectful.”
“I should have asked Bisnonna.”
Probably. If it’s possible, Emilia would know how to do it. “Are you sure he doesn’t love you? You might be worrying about a nonissue.”
Hope looks around and then leans forward, whispering. “He won’t touch me. Not even on the hand. He won’t flirt with me or let me flirt with him.”
This is the kind of boyfriend Max would love. I work hard to hold back a smile. “Did he give you a reason for that?”
Her nose wrinkles. “He says that we aren’t old enough. But tons of people our age are dating. I want to hold his hand. It isn’t fair.”
Max will definitely love this kid.
And hate him more than anything else on earth. This boy isn’t playing games. He doesn’t want to date her. If I were a gambling woman, I’d say that he’s all in. He wants her forever.
More than forever if such a thing existed.
“Hope, you should respect his feelings.”
She kind of sniffs and snorts at the same time. “No. What I need is a plan.”
That little girl is relentless. I feel for the boy who needs to stand up to her. He’d need a will of iron and more patience than a teacher, because that's about the only thing that’s going to keep that kind of determination from getting her own way.
Should I warn her father?
That would be a battle royale…one that I probably wouldn’t even want to be on the same planet as when it happens, let alone be the cause of it.
I probably should still warn him…
***
And it turns out that I’m more of a coward than I thought. Throughout the day, I tried ten times to tell Max about Hope, but the coward in me just asked about his hands or how Dash was doing.
Tomorrow I’ll be brave and ride out the storm. Max is a smart man. He has to expect that his smart, kind, and beautiful daughter is going to fall in love sometime.
A reasonable man like him will be able to logically discuss the topic of boys with his daughter.
Too bad Hope isn’t at all reasonable.
“Dash, you won’t give your parents any trouble, will you?”
“Are you kidding? That boy has trouble written all over his sweet face.”
