“That’s because he did.” Hope repeats the sign. “Dad taught him. We’re all learning sign language. Let’s go get you your milk.”
WHAT? I turn to Max. “You’re learning to sign? And you taught Dash?”
Max grins at me and takes a step forward.
That smile. I know that smile. I step back.
Before I can get any farther, he lands a quick peck on my lips. “Good morning,tesoro mio.”
“My head is spinning.” Why did I say that out loud?
“Good. You look beautiful this morning. I love your outfit.” His voice is pitched low enough that no one else can hear.
A blush steals its way up my face.
“Though I enjoy that outfit, you might want to go get changed before work.”
Changed? I’m still in my robe. “Beast,” I whisper.
He has the nerve to chuckle.
Can he tell? This covers you from neck to toes. No one knows. This time wasn’t bad. Maybe I shouldn’t even tell my therapist. I’ll probably only be slightly sore today.
“Where’s your head right now, Fiona?”
“Huh?”
“Wherever your head just went, it wasn’t good. We should talk about it.”
Talk to Max…about that…never. “I need to go get dressed for work.”
“Go get ready, but we will have that talk.”
The irksome man is way too confident, and also wrong in this case. We won’t be having that conversation.
***
I should tell him to stop.
I should pull my hand away.
I should do something to stop my heart from getting so attached to this man.
Instead, my heart is thumping so fast as we walk towards the bakery hand in hand. It wants to believe that this cozy picture could be my future. This is all a dream that’s going to come crashing down, crushing me beneath the never-ending pain of its loss.
We stop at the back door of the bakery.
“I’ll just go in and say hi to everyone.” Hope sneaks away, leaving me alone with her dad and Dash.
“What are you two going to do today?” What a stupid question to ask.
“We’re going to go to the park, learn some more sign language, and do a bit of coding.” He takes a step forward.
“Don’t even think about it.” I put a hand on his chest to hold him back. “We’re in a public place with a lot of kids around.”
“Don’t care.” He grins.
Did I really think he would? “This is my place of business.”
