When I came out of the bathroom, Amos wasn’t at our table.
I stopped in the doorway and scanned the coffee shop, confused for a second.
Then I heard Holt’s voice drift over the low murmur of conversation. “We’ve got a special guest tonight.”
And there was Amos, sitting on the edge of the little stage with a microphone stand pulled close, his big frame folded onto the wooden stool. He caught my eye across the room.
“This one’s for a very special woman in my life,” his voice carried easily through the coffee shop. “Shelly-Rae Anderson. This is for you, darlin’.”
My hand went to my chest before I could stop it.
Holt played the opening notes as Amos sangIf You Don’t Know Me By Nowby Simply Red.
His voice low and unhurried, his eyes latched onto mine, and everyone else in the room disappeared.
I stood in the doorway and couldn’t move.
Amos hadn’t transformed over the last thirty days. He’d just shown me more of the man he already was.
That was the thing I kept turning over in my head as I watched him.
I’d spent a month learning about the man hiding inside him that most people never got to see.
The quiet Amos, who held my hand without thinking about it.
The tender Amos, who helped his mom wash dishes after our Sunday dinner.
The serious Amos, who’d looked me dead in the eye and said Idomatter. That he did notice me. That he’dalwaysnoticed me.
I’d been so busy waiting for him to break my heart that I hadn’t noticed how much he’d let me in.
When the last note faded, the small crowd in the coffee shop clapped, and Amos gave a modest little nod, ducking his head almost shyly, and climbed off the stage.
He crossed the room to me with his hands in his pockets and a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“Is it time to couch cuddle yet?”
I laughed, and it came out a little unsteady. “Yeah,” I said. “I think it is.”
I took his hand and led him out into the cool night air. My apartment was right upstairs.
“Where did you learn that song?”
“Simply Red is my mom’s favorite band. I grew up listening to those songs.”
As I unlocked my front door, silence greeted us.
We had the whole apartment to ourselves.
“Mina’s, uh, spending the night at a friend’s place,” I told him nervously.
“Really. Does that affect the no men after ten rule?”
I laughed lightly. “Maybe. It depends on how the evening goes.”
We settled onto my couch the way we always did.
Amos stretched out with his back against the armrest, and I tucked in against his chest, his arm wrapping around me, his chin resting on top of my curls.
