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“My grandparents came to the funeral and took her. She was only five.”
“They took her?” I blurted out. I didn’t mean for my reaction to sound as horrified as it did, but I couldn’t help it.
He nodded and took another bite of his ice cream.
I tried to let it go since this was obviously a sensitive subject, but after a few moments of watching Luna on the playground, I blurted out, “What about your dad?”
“He let them. He pretty much checked out once mom was gone. My whole life he’d been a functioning alcoholic, after he lost her, he dropped the functioning and just became an alcoholic. He did everything he could to drink himself to death after he lost my mom. It took him a couple of decades, but he finally did it. He passed a little over six months ago.”
“I’m so sorry.” Acting solely on instinct, I reached out and touched his arm. When I did I felt a jolt of electricity shoot up my arm. It was the same thing I’d felt when I’d sat next to him on the trolley before Luna asked to sit by him.
I didn’t know if he felt it too. If he did, I couldn’t tell from his expression. Hank wasn’t the easiest person to read. I slid my hand away and my fingers tingled from where they’d just touched his skin. I knew that it had to all be in my mind. It wasn’t as if he was actually electrically charged, but it felt like he was.
And electrically charged was the last thing I needed in my life.
I scarfed down the rest of my ice cream wanting to get this not-a-date over. I put the last bite in my mouth when I got a sharp, stabbing pain in my head.
“Ah.” I cringed as I scrunched my face and pressed my palm to my forehead. “Brain freeze.”
Hank cupped my mouth and nose with his hand and instructed, “Breathe.”
I did and the warmth of my breath gently eased the pain, so I exhaled again. After a few moments, it had completely dissipated and I felt my entire body relax. It was then that I had the completely inappropriate urge to pretend that Hank’s hand was an ice cream cone and lick his palm.
Down girl,I chastised myself.
I’d never licked a palm in my life. Hank brought out primal urges in me. It made me wonder what would happen if I ever gave into my base desires.
“Better?” Hank asked.
I nodded and he lowered his hand. My breathing was shallow and unsteady but it had nothing to do with the ice cream headache I’d just experienced.
“Thanks.” I shifted in my seat not sure of what to say. I couldn’t exactly get up and leave right after Hank had just saved my life. Or at least, thirty seconds of agony. “That’s a good trick.”
“My mom used to get them all the time.” A grin tugged at his lips and it made me wonder if Billy was right, if he didn’t smile. The thought of that being the case made me sad.
But the thought of me being the one to put a smile on his face made me disproportionately happy.
