Page 68 of Ruined Vows
I swallow the lump that tries to rise in my throat.
A little girl toddles over with a crumpled sticker stuck to her cheek and a doll in one hand. She looks up at him like he’s a skyscraper.
“You big,” she announces.
“You small,” he replies.
She giggles.
Then offers him the doll with outstretched arms. “She sad.”
He takes it into his large handlike it’s breakable.
“Why?”
“She got no shoes.”
He hums thoughtfully. “No shoes? That’s a serious problem.”
Then, unbelievably, he plucks a Band-Aid from his back pocket, peels it open, and wraps it carefully around the doll’s tiny foot.
“There,” he says. “Now she has something.”
The girl beams. “You good.” She gives him the toothiest smile.
“Don’t tell anyone,” he murmurs, offering her a wink. “I’ve got a reputation.”
I’m watching this unfold with my arms crossed, and my jaw hits the floor. I try to snap out of it, but I can’t. When he returns to me, I ask, “You just carry Band-Aids?”
“I plan ahead.”
“For dolls?”
“No,” he says. “For people who bleed.”
God.
Why is that so hot?
“You trying to make me fall for you in a room full of toddlers?” I ask.
He smirks. “Is it working?”
A little boy starts crying in the corner, and he’s already moving before I can respond.
He kneels beside him, crouching down to his eye level.
“What happened?”
The boy sniffles. “He—he took my train.”
“Did you ask for it back?”
He nods. “He said no.”
Vukan glances at me, then back at the boy. “Want to know a secret?”
The kid nods, eyes huge.
