Page 21 of Be With Me

“So, you grew up in the country.”

She shrugged.

I’d been to New York state once. It was beautiful. “Did you have a farm?”

She laughed. “No. We did not have a farm. Although we did have chickens. And a few turkeys.” She took a deep breath, raising her face into the cool, damp night air. “I like the stillness,” she told me. “The sound of the rain and the rustle of the trees. I like listening to the crickets sing and waking up to herds of deer in my yard.”

“Where you grew up?”

“Yes. But also here. That’s why I moved out here from the city.”

“Because it reminds you of where you grew up.” I could smell the rain that was coming and the crisp scent of fall. A lot different than the air in the city.

“Yeah. It kinda does.” She cleared her throat, and a I felt her retreat into herself for a moment before she came back to me. Chasing away memories of days long gone and people that weren’t ever coming back?

“What about you? Where did you grow up?”

“In my foster home, mostly.”

She stopped walking. “I didn’t realize. You said Willow was your foster sister, but I assumed she was the only one who was fostered.”

“Most people don’t.”

“You weren’t adopted?”

“Neither of us was adopted. Not that our parents didn’t want to, but they had their reasons.” Or, so I’d always assumed. I reached for her hand and she let me take it as we began to walk again. “She was already placed when I came along. We were both really young. According to our parents, Willow took to me right away, taking on the big sister role like she’d just been waiting for me.”

She had questions. I could tell by her silence and the funny look on her face every time she glanced my way. I gave her a small smile to let her know I was open to answering whatever she wanted to know, but she kept her thoughts to herself.

The wind kicked up, blowing her hair around her head. She brushed it out of her face with her free hand, a bit awkwardly, and a small thrill went through me that she was unwilling to make me release the hold I had on her other hand. She squeezed my fingers as we walked past the small restaurants and business that lined the main street. Offering me sympathy?

When we reached the end of the street, we turned left and she pointed out her apartment building. I could see it through the mist, about three blocks away, maybe less. I was running out of time. “I don’t know much about where I came from, except I was born somewhere in the Middle East and I wasn’t an easy kid when my foster parents, Jim and Elaine Hale, got me. Apparently, within a year, I’d already been in and out of three other foster homes before they got me. They gave me a family, and probably kept me from trading life in the foster system to life in the prison system. And when I was old enough, I had my last name legally changed.” Saying it out loud left me feeling exposed. I wasn’t sure why. I was more grateful to my parents than they would ever know. The love I felt for them knew no bounds.

“Probably?”

I laughed a little. “Most definitely. I like to think I would’ve taken the necessary steps to do so on my own, but honestly, I don’t know what would’ve happened to me if they hadn’t come into my life.”

“But you said you were young when you went to them.”

“I was, but that doesn’t mean I was easy. Apparently, I’d been through some trauma the first years of my life.” I shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t remember much.”

We walked in comfortable silence until we reached the door to her apartment building. I wanted to keep talking, but it was also nice to just be with someone, without having to be “on” all of the time.

All of the units were inside for security reasons, although I couldn’t tell you what the builders thought they were protecting their tenants from. Bears, maybe?

She released my hand and smiled at me.

Okay. This was it. My last chance. “Look. I heard what you said back at the coffee shop. I did. Really. But, just think about it, Ailee. Please? A date or two. That’s all I’m asking. Dinner.”

“Tyler—”

“It’s just dinner,” I told her. “That’s all I’m asking. No expectations.”

She gave me a look like she didn’t believe me.

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t be hopeful.” I grinned at her, my body warming at the memory of her in my arms. “But I won’t push it…much.”

To my relief, she laughed. “We’ll see.”

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