Page 21 of Not Mine To Love

He laughed, and I smiled.

“It was kind of ridiculous, and I honestly don’t remember it. But my mom says that whenever anyone asked me what I wanted to be, I said a puppy.”

“At least you thought outside the box. So are you disappointed?” he said, turning to me as he pulled up to a stoplight. I looked at him then. His eyes were warm, unguarded, and I felt mesmerized by them. I had his full attention and, like an idiot, I couldn’t get a word out. What had he just asked me? Oh, yeah, he asked me if I was disappointed.

“Disappointed by what?” I asked, still staring at him.

“Disappointed by turning into a beautiful, interesting woman instead of a puppy.”

I looked away and knew I was blushing. Had he just called me beautiful?

I shrugged and tried to play it cool. “I don’t know,” I said, looking away, “being a person instead of a dog definitely has its perks.”

He laughed, and a horn sounded behind us.

“What’s up with that bozo?” he asked, looking into the rearview mirror.

“Umm… it’s a green light,” I said, pointing.

He accelerated, and the man behind us sped up and gave us the finger, while yelling out an obscenity.

“Hope you have a great day too!” Julius yelled back.

I giggled. Julius was fun.

“You know what’s wrong with the world today, Becca?”

I shook my head.

“Common decency. People just don’t have a sense of common decency anymore.”

I smiled. “You sound like my father.”

“Your father must be a very great, wise, force of a man.”

My smile widened. “Yeah… exactly. He’s all those things.”

Julius chuckled.

We settled into comfortable silence, and I couldn’t help but be curious about him. Would it be so bad to ask him a personal question? Maybe it would help me figure out what made him tick.

“So what about you?”

“What about me?” he said, pulling up to the florist shop.

“Tell me something about you that most people don’t know.”

He parked the car and unbuckled his seatbelt.

“Well, I never wanted to be a puppy; I was a much more realistic child.”

I playfully punched him in the shoulder, and he pretended it hurt.

“Ouch.”

“Whatever.”

“Come on. Tell me.”