“I’ve got an idea,” he says, a small smile on his lips. “We had that night together. Then all this…” He gestures with his hand. “We need a chance to feel like a couple.”
“A couple?” I murmur.
“Two people on a date,” he corrects. Have I offended him? “Let me take you on a date. Just a fun, silly date, something normal people do.”
“You want to feel like a normal person, Rafael Bellini?”
He slides his hand around to my back, spreading his fingers, warmth imprinting on me. “I do, Ava. So badly. There’s a reason I don’t run my business in the bloody, ugly way my cousin would have. We’ve got enough money. And people just deserve peace.”
He leans forward, kissing me on the cheek again. I turn my head against him, that special warmth filling me. But I’m not sure I can give him what he wants.
“I’ll ask your parents if they’ll watch Theo,” he says.
“I’d better come with you.”
“I passed them on the way in,” Rafe says. “They seemed… civil.”
Let’s hope so, I think but don’t say. I carry Theo into the living room with Rafe at my side. I feel like doing giddy jumps at seeing him alive and here and…mine. That’s the thought that keeps trying to punch through.
“Sir, ma’am,” Rafe says.
Dad stands and shakes Rafe’s hand. “I hear we can leave now?”
“Yes, you’re safe now,” Rafe replies. “I’m sorry I couldn’t come sooner. I’m sorry you were even a part of this at all.” He swallows, his voice breaking slightly. “The truth is, one of my biggest fears has been to bring this to an innocent person’s door.” He looks at me with blazing emotion in his eyes, and I know he’s thinking of his mother, what happened when his father fled and left her defenseless.
Whenheran from me, that was to keep me safe.
“I’m sorry,” Rafe croaks. “Sincerely, and I feel bad for what I want to ask you now.”
Dad sits, holding Mom’s hand. They both seem more accepting of Rafe. Maybe it’s seeing him with Theo. Or maybe it’s the raw honesty and humanity he’s offering them. I like it. A lot. A man who can take responsibility.
“Go on, Rafe,” Mom says.
“I want to take Ava on a fun date. Just something to make us feel normal. That’s what I want everything to be going forward… normal. I know there are parts of my business you can’t agree with, and maybe I can do something about that. But for tonight, please, will you allow me to take your daughter out? And will you watch our son?”
Mom looks at Dad, a wry smile on her face. They don’t seem as affected by what Rafe had to do to get back here. Maybe they haven’t thought about it. They didn’t hear the gunshot through the phone, thankfully.
I think it’s a good thing, them not thinking of him like that, as a killer.
Can I see past that?
“I don’t know, Tom. What do you think? Can we watch our grandchild?”
Dad smirks. “I think we can handle that.” He turns to Rafe. “I know you and Ava will have a lot to talk about. But just remember…” He smiles knowingly at me. “It’s a long road. It’s important to go at your own pace.”
That’s a tune change from what he was saying before. But after I told him my feelings about all that, he said sorry and understood where I was coming from.I know I can be old-fashioned, but that’s no excuse.
Rafe turns to me, a nervous smile on his face. “I’ll need to change,” he says, gesturing at his rumpled suit.
“No,” I say. “You don’t.”
He rests one hand on my knee as we drive under the clear sky. The roof is down on his car. The early evening air whizzing by. I’m wearing a hoodie and jeans. Rafe said if he didn’t need to dress up, then neither did I, with that hungry, excited glint in his eyes.
He pulls into an outdoor movie theater, cruising past the gate and parking directly in the middle.
I look around at the empty lot, laughing. “We’re the only ones here.”
“Maybe I don’t want to feel completely normal,” he says with a smirk, leaning in for a kiss.
