“How did you know that I wouldn’t take those tickets and go with someone else?”
I mugged her. “Because you don’t want to play those games with me, beautiful. You already knew that wouldn’t go over well with me. I think we both know that I’m not a man who you toy with.”
“Someone’s full of themselves, I see.”
“We’re going to have a lovely night tonight, okay? Can we put our swords away?”
“We’ll see.”
It wasn’t a long ride from her house, so we made small talk along the way as we discussed theatrical performances that we enjoyed over the years.
After we arrived, I could tell that she was curious as she looked around and did not see any long lines. We presented our tickets and were escorted inside down to the front row floor seats at the stage.
She gasped as we took our seats. “Where is everyone?”
“By everyone, who are you referring to?”
“The audience.”
“We are the audience, beautiful.”
“Naijhel, is there no one else coming? Is there really a play?”
“There is. It’s just the two of us and the actors.”
“But how?”
“I rented the hall tonight for a special performance for just you and I.”
Although she wouldn’t say it, I could tell by the sparkle in her eyes and the cute little twist on her mouth that she used to hide her smile that she was impressed.
I watched her throughout the performance, and I loved how much she enjoyed herself. Delaney’s range of emotions were on full display, and she did not limit expressing herself for the sake of trying to hide them from me. She experienced the play in its entirety and everything that it brought out in her. She laughed, she cried, and she rejoiced.
In the end, Delaney put her mask back in place when the performance ended. She returned to her usual reserved self, and she politely thanked me for bringing her as I whisked her off to our next destination.
“This is a unique dining experience, Naijhel,” she declared as we walked up the metal stairs of an old train.
“I thought you might appreciate it,” I stated, waving my hand for her to proceed through the first car.
Our table was set up in the third car complete with a violinist and a cellist. After we were served our meal, I noticed that I was still talking, and she was a bit more reserved than before.
I set my fork down and stared into her eyes. “I know that I’m not a boring date, and I’m not so self-consumed that I don’t realize that I’m doing all the talking. So please, gorgeous, tell me what’s on your mind.”
She shook her head and replied, “I’m fine.”
I reached out and took her hands over the table. Surprisingly, she didn’t pull back. Delaney met my gaze. “Seriously, tell me what’s on your mind. Whatever you want to know about me, ask. I’m an open book.”
“How did you get that limp, and why do you walk with the cane?”
Of all the things I had expected her to ask me, that wasn’t one of them. I expected that she would ask about the reason I was pursuing her again, since that was a point of contention between us.
It honestly caught me off guard, and though I struggled emotionally with it, I resolved to tell her the truth.
“My father was a victim of domestic violence. He battled it for years, but we didn’t realize how serious it was. We knew that she could be emotionally abusive whenever she had been drinking, but we didn’t realize that she could be physicallyabusive at times too. I mean, we saw things like her hitting him on the arm or chest, but we all took it to be something playful.
“My father was a strong, powerful man, but he didn’t believe in putting his hands on women, and he loved his girlfriend fiercely. One night, he was texting me to come to his house. He said that he needed me to help him move. My brother, Brandon, was at the hospital because his twins were being born.
“I told my dad that I would be there as soon as I could get away. My dad often claimed he was leaving his girlfriend, and then he wouldn’t. I thought it was another one of those cases, and my girlfriend, Tracy, was tripping on me about running over there again. Tracy was quite a handful too. She was clingy and needy, and she often complained that I always went running when my family called. So I couldn’t get away right away.
