Beau shrugged. “He’s a good kid. Quick feet. He’s got drive, just needs some fine-tuning.”
“Luella said it was a dream come true for him.” Sienna put her phone away. “It must be nice to have that kind of impact on someone. I mean, an hour of your day gave him a memory he’ll keep for a lifetime.”
Beau’s hand left the steering wheel to rub across his jaw. “I guess.”
“She means the world to me—Luella. She’s taken care of Grace for some time.” Sienna sighed. “People like her, who willingly work with sick kids... they deserve the world. So, thank you.”
“Sick kids deserve it too,” Beau said with a nod. “I mean, you can’t say no to a sick kid, can you?”
“Not very easily.” Sienna leaned her head toward the window. “You know, wemightbe on the other side of it, but I think about Grace’s friend Molly. They got diagnosed around the same time. They used to be inseparable. But Molly’s case, it got complicated. She’s prepping for another stem cell transplant. But they’re making plans to go to Disney World through a glass wall.” Sienna sighed. “Life isn’t fair sometimes. When you have a kid with cancer, you’re between a rock and a hard place of wanting to do more and you can’t. I’d like to do more for those kids one day.”
“Have you taken Grace?”
“To Disney? No.” Sienna shook her head. “It was always too expensive, or she was too sick. I couldn’t exactly put her on a plane when she had no immune system, and the drive would’ve been too hard on her. Maybe I can swing it next year. And she’d want to take Molly, but we’d have to wait until she was clear for travel. We’ll see how summer goes.”
“But now things are a little less risky, right? She told me she was going to see Simon Gorges in concert.”
“She did?”
Beau chewed on his lip. “Uh, yeah. When I picked you up, she mentioned something about it.”
“Oh,” Sienna said. “Yeah, Henry got her tickets.”
“Good. She deserves to have a little fun,” Beau reminded her. “And so does her mom.”
* * *
“Il Cielo? We’ve never been here.”Definitely not.From the sleek branding of the sign to the dim light she could see through the window, Sienna knew this restaurant was already out of her league.“Maybe you’re thinking of someone else.”
Sienna eyed Beau as he made his way to her door, waving off the valet who had moved to open it. The way he walked—smoothly and purposefully—made her unable to look away, and Sienna wondered how many other women had watched him from this very same seat, had let him open the door. She frowned inwardly.
His bed was probably never empty.
She jumped when he opened her door and held out a hand. “Do you trust me?”
Do you actuallyknowme?Sienna wondered as she glanced at the restaurant behind him. Fancy food—fancyanything—wasn’t exactly her type. She would have been happy with pizza and garlic knots.
But there was something in Beau’s eyes that made Sienna want to trust him. It was a confidence that only could have been embedded over a lifetime. A long time ago, if Sienna had asked Beau to jump, he would, with no question, not evenhow high?He would jump out of trees as kids, off the roof as teenagers—whatever she wanted—risking broken bones and her father’s wrath.
And all he’s asking for me now is to take his hand,she thought to herself.
But the truth was, Beau didn’t have to ask. As strong and stubborn as she tried to be since Beau returned after a long, painful hiatus, Sienna would be lying if she had said she didn’t like that he was around.
“What does that mean? Il Cielo?”
“The sky,” Beau said, opening the door.
Stepping into the restaurant, Sienna felt like she was among the stars, with the tiniest twinkling lights recessed into the ceiling and candles scattered on the tables.
“Mr. Walker,” the maître d'greeted Beau with the slightest nod. Beau didn’t stop, only gave a small wave hello.
“This way,” he told Sienna. A few patrons lifted their heads at them, letting out a whisper or two ofBeau Walkeras they made their way through the dimly lit restaurant. Sienna could feel eyes on her and tried to avoid all of them as Beau led her by the hand to a corner booth.
“I hope you’re hungry,” he said, sliding next to her.
The nerves in her stomach had morphed into barely there flutters by the time they had arrived in Dallas, and Sienna realized she had been too anxious to eat much of anything all day.
“I am,” she told him, still looking around.And I might need a pizza after this.Everything about Il Cielo screamed two-bite portions.