I frowned. “I’m not your ex-wife. I would never leave like that and hurt you.”
“No, I didn’t mean…fuck.” He took a step back and wiped a hand over his face. I missed having him close.
“She was a shitty person, but I’m not her,” I said and took a step to bridge the distance again.
Hector shrugged. “She wasn’t too bad. Just unhappy.”
I scoffed but didn’t voice my thoughts. I’d heard gossip from town about the attitude Angelina had on her. My guess was that it was part of the reason the diner had been so slow when I first got here. Nobody wanted to be waited on by someone who acted holier than thou.
The townsfolk had also been more than happy to fill me in on the details of her relationship with Hector. How they’d gotten together briefly after Hector got out of prison and married not even a year later. I’d always stopped the conversation there because I wanted to hear the rest directly from Hector.
“You’re never willing to speak badly of people,” I told him.
“She really wasn’t that bad. She was at least willing to give a convict like me a chance.”
“You were wrongly accused,” I said. After Hector told me the story, just thinking about how the system had failed him made me angry. “It was dark, and the man was yelling for help. You were only trying to be agood person. How would you have known they were running from the police for theft?”
From what Hector had told me, he hadn’t even attacked the officer who was chasing after the man. Not really. He’d been frantic to help, and all he’d done was raise his hand to block the chaser, but it was enough to make the officer fall, and the thief get away. Hector hadn’t struggled when the officer got back to his feet and arrested him.
Hector shrugged again, like spending a year in prison at eighteen was nothing. It didn’t matter to him that he was convicted of a crime that he hadn’t really committed. Or the fact that what little reputation he had in town had been completely ruined, which meant the townsfolk had spent years avoiding him.
“You should have told them the truth. You can still tell everyone here the truth,” I said, not for the first time.
His reply was always the same. “It’s already in the past, and I got this place in return.” He gestured to the diner again.
“It’s still unfair. You shouldn’t have taken the fall,” I grumbled.
The thief who got away had been the son of the previous mayor. The family had been very wealthy, so Hector speculated the kid had been chasing a thrill. Unluckily for him, the person he’d chosen to rob was the daughter of an influential figure who’d been visiting town, and they wanted blood.
The previous mayor had paid Hector a sizableamount of money to keep quiet and take the blame before taking his son and moving far away from here. Hector had said it was enough money to buy the building that housed the diner—and the apartment—and keep it afloat until business had started picking up, but not enough to retire on.
“You should have seen the kid. He was terrified of ruining his future, and it wasn’t like I had much of one anyway.”
“Didn’t you say he was the same age as you when it happened? Eighteen. Hell, you were both practically kids.”
“Yeah, well, technically still an adult,” Hector said nonchalantly.
I took his hands again, and he let me. “Too kind for your own good,” I said softly.
Hector grumbled something that sounded awfully like a protest, but I just smiled.
“So, if you really think about it, my falling for you is all your fault. I have a thing for nice people, and you’re the nicest man there is.”
I tugged on his fingers and admired the way his ears flamed red. It was easy to see that Hector wasn’t used to compliments, which was why I went out of my way to give them to him. He deserved to hear more good things said about him.
“We can, um, try,” Hector said suddenly. His voice cracked. He cleared it and tried again. “I don’t havemuch to offer, but we can try giving ‘us’ a chance. If you’re okay with plain ’ol me, I mean.”
“More than okay with you just as you are.” I beamed and threw myself into his arms. He caught me by the waist, and I pressed myself against him. I would’ve kissed him right there, aside from the fact that it’d probably freak him out.
Angelina was the only person Hector had ever been with, which meant I was his second. And the first man for him, at that. I couldn’t afford to scare him off.
My excitement dimmed a little at his next words, even though I knew it was coming.
“You have to tell me what’s been going on with you, though. If we’re going to…um…date, there can’t be any secrets between us.”
I smiled at the way he stumbled over the word, like he was unfamiliar with dating. I guessed that was true. I was going to show him just how awesome dating was.
“I’ll tell you everything, I promise,” I said, and played with the soft hair at the back of his head with my fingers. “But first, we’re going to finish cleaning up.”
