Page 24 of Jessica's Hero
A beat later, I inwardly cringe. Kane doesn’t care about sugar cubes and special creamer pitchers. He’s just making conversation.
“I love that.” Kane pauses, looking pensive. “Having those kinds of memories with your mom. I still remember cooking Sunday morning breakfast with my dad.Sometimes he had to work weekends, but when he didn’t, he’d get up early to make breakfast for my mom. I’d get up to help him, and we’d make a huge mess in the kitchen. But my mom never seemed to mind.”
I remember Kane mentioning that his dad died a long time ago, but I don’t know the details of when or how. “Were you close, then? You and your dad?”
“We were. He had to work a lot, but whenever he wasn’t, he was one hundred percent present for me and my mom. Taking us on trips, fixing up the house, or just sitting with me after dinner, helping with homework.”
He takes a sip of coffee, his gaze going distant for a moment. “He passed away when I was in middle school. It was a traffic stop—he was a State Trooper—and a drunk driver just slammed right into him.”
My heart twists. “Kane. I’m so sorry.”
His mouth curves into a sad smile. “It’s okay. It’s been a long time. But he’s the reason I wanted to be a cop. Before he died, and especially after.”
I touch his hand. “He must be so proud of you.”
“You think?”
“Yes. I do. How could he not be? What you do is so brave.”
Twin spots of pink appear high on his cheeks. “I’m just doing my job.”
“Sorry. Should I not have said that?”
“No, it was fine. I just don’t think about myself that way. But I like thinking about my dad being proud.” He stops. His expression sobers. “Your mom passed away not too long ago, didn’t she?”
“Yes.” I wait for the familiar pain to slash into me, but with Kane here, it doesn’t seem to hurt as badly. “Justabout four years ago. That’s why I came back to Sleepy Hollow; to take care of her. She had end-stage renal disease. Originally, we hoped she’d get a transplant. But it just didn’t work out. I was here for about a year before she passed away.”
“Jess.” Kane gathers both my hands in his. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. This is supposed to be a nice date, and here I am?—”
“It’s okay.” Squeezing his hands, I add, “I don’t mind you asking. And isn’t this what we’re here for? To get to know each other better?”
Although that’s easy to say when he doesn’t know the biggest secret of them all.
Or does he? Like Nora, does he know about what happened in high school and just never said anything about it?
“You’re right,” he replies. “But I meant to start with more cheerful topics. Like your promotion and how it’s going. If you went on that quest last night and got the special dagger you’ve been wanting.”
“The Shadow Serpent’s blade?”
“Yes. That.” He grins. “Did you get it?”
Excitement fizzes up as I return his smile. “I did. It took a few tries to kill the final guy, but we finally got him around midnight. Which is much later than I like to stay up, but we were in the middle of the dungeon, and the whole guild was there, and then our guild leader had this new strategy…”
Trailing off, I give Kane a sheepish look. “Too much information?”
“Not at all.” His expression softens. “I enjoy hearing you talk about your game.” After a beat, he adds, “I wasthinking about it. The game I mean. I had fun playing the other night. Is that something you’d like to do again?”
“PlayTenebris Veilwith you?”
His smile goes unexpectedly shy. “Yeah. Unless you’d rather not.”
“I’d love to,” I reply quickly. “Any time you want. We could do some more beginner quests. Get you geared up better. Unless you want to watch a raid instead. You wouldn’t be able to go, since you’re not high enough level.”
“Either works. How about the next time we have dinner? I have the weekend off again. So we could go out and then head back to your place after.” He pauses. “Unless that’s too soon. I’m not trying to rush you.”
I’m just about to reassure Kane that he’s not rushing me—well, maybe a little, but I actually like it after years of cowardly inactivity—my phone chimes with a series of texts.
My stomach jumps. One text is normal. One text could be Nora checking in about game night, which I still haven’t committed to. One text could be Thea asking about next week’sBachelor-watching session.
