The boys looked at each other, and then at her, like they didn’t understand why they were supposed to care.
Fair enough.
“Cool,” Levi said, because he was old enough that he was at least trying to be polite.
The door opened, and a group of teenagers came in, kids from the boys’ school, and they started talking, sufficiently distracted from her, which made it the perfect time for her to approach Declan.
“I’m sorry that I canceled.” Her heart was fluttering rapidly, so much so she felt like he could probably tell.
“That’s okay. I wondered if I did something wrong.”
“No. You didn’t.” She closed her eyes. “It was me having baggage and religious trauma and not knowing how to deal with myself and my feelings.”
“That’s a lot of things.”
“It is.” She laughed, because if she didn’t, she might cry.
“But your kids are with you.” He gestured toward them. “Speaking to you.”
“Yeah. You probably heard about the pastor who burned the house down by now.”
“Yes,” he said.
“That was my ex’s house.”
“Oh wow.”
“Yeah. Well. He kind of earned it. He ... Well, that’s a story I’d like to tell you, maybe over dinner.”
“You want to uncancel the date.”
“I do. I got freaked out for a minute.”
“Of all the reasons you had, I didn’t imaginethatone. Feels kind of understandable.”
She laughed. “Good. I ... I’m really bad at this. Because I don’t have any experience. I literally didn’t even date my husband. I just married him. When I was eighteen.” She winced. “I’m going to do things like that. I’m going to tell you things you didn’t ask. Probably scare you a little bit.”
“I’m not scared.”
“Okay. So that’s good. It’s a good start.”
“It is.”
“So as long as you’re okay with me being weird and awkward, we should be all right.”
“Soraya,” he said slowly. “I own a store that focuses on role-playing games. Awkward is definitely something I’m used to.”
“Butyoudon’t seem awkward.”
“Again, I’m very good at role-playing. I’ll tell you more about me at dinner.”
“Great.”
“I’ll text you details,” he said.
“Okay.”
The boys’ friends walked out of the store, and Jaden and Levi drifted back to her side.
