not to continue. “You really do have some pretty cool date ideas.”
My cheeks heated at the compliment. “Why thank you, kind sir.”
He kissed the back of my hand. “My pleasure, ma’am.”
I reached out and wiped a smidgen of sauce from the corner of Brooks’ delectable mouth, and he turned his face to my hand, kissing the palm gently. After we finished lunch, he paid the bill and we walked down the sidewalk hand in hand.
“I have to tell you something, Michelle,” he said.
My heart dropped to my stomach. “I have to tell you something” can rarely be anything good. He took my elbow and guided me to a wooden bench just inside the gates of a park. I sat down and looked at him.
“You’re married?” I asked.
He frowned. “What? No!”
“Engaged?”
“Seriously, Michelle? No.”
I thought for a moment. “You’re not sick, are you?”
He took my face in his hands. “Stop, okay? It’s nothing like that.”
“So . . . what?” I asked.
He took a deep breath. “You asked me last night why I broke up with you.”
“That’s all right. You don’t have to say,” I said, looking down at the ground. “I always figured it was because I wasn’t intellectual enough for you. Me, with my romance novels, always escaping into worlds filled with happy-ever-afters instead of ‘reality’ as you call it.”
He looked horrified. “No, that’s not why. Quite the opposite, in fact.”
I lifted my lashes. “Then why?”
He blew out a breath. “I loved being with you. I loved every minute of every day that we spent together . . .”
I shook my head. “So . . . what then?”
His opened his eyes wide. “Well, you were smart, so smart that you won that scholarship. I couldn’t stand in your way, Michelle.”
My eyebrows came together. “I don’t understand.”
“Your family couldn’t afford to pay your way into another college, so that scholarship was everything to your future. It was your ticket to go on to bigger, better things. I couldn’t let you throw that away for me.”
“Just like you said that night at Krista’s apartment.” My eyes filled with tears and I shook my head. “You weren’t making that up.”
“No,” he said, quietly.
“But, I wanted to be with you.”
“I know, but I couldn’t let you miss that opportunity for me,” he said, wiping my tears with his thumb. “I wanted to be with you, too. I let you go for you, Michelle. It broke my heart.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. “So, you didn’t end things because I read romance novels and not the kind of books you read?”
He shook his head, half smiling. “I loved the fact that you were so romantic, and so optimistic about life. It was the reason I let you go, so you could put that imagination and enthusiasm to good use, and not waste it following me.” He cupped my chin and lifted my face so he could look into my eyes. “But believe me when I say, I never ever got over losing you.”
And then he kissed me and I never wanted it to end.
****
Standing outside the Geoffries hotel that Friday night, I couldn’t hide my excitement for our date tonight. Brooks was standing behind me with his hands over my eyes, and he guided me through the doors, propelling me forward.
“Don’t let me walk into anything,” I said, my hands groping the air in front of me.
He chuckled. “I won’t.”
My foot caught something and I stumbled. “Brooks! You promised.”
“You tripped over the heel of your own shoe. Trust me, okay?”
There had been a time when the very idea of trusting Brooks Keller would’ve made me recoil in horror, but now was a different story. “Okay, I trust you,” I said.
We stopped, and Brooks let go of my eyes, making me promise to keep them closed as he moved away for a moment. There was a gentle rush of air as he opened what sounded like heavy doors, and then he was back behind me, nudging me forward again.
“Ok, now when I say ‘step’, I need you to step up slightly and forward at the same time.”
I nodded, but moved before he was ready and felt myself lurch forward, the way you do when you miscalculate how many stairs there are and think there’s one more to go when there isn’t. My foot landed with the grace of a sumo wrestler.
“Brooks!” I exclaimed.
He stifled his laughter. “I told you to wait until I said ‘step.’ Okay, ready?”
I nodded, shuffling my toes forward until they made contact with something,