The weather.
The bookstore.
Daniel’s latest work disaster.
Then she put down her fork.
“I want to ask you something.”
“Go ahead.”
“Why me?”
I blinked.
“That’s a dangerous question to ask a man who has just ordered dessert.”
“Alex.”
I smiled.
Then I thought carefully.
“Because you make me feel like I don’t have to perform. I can be ridiculous, uncertain, or afraid, and you don’t treat those things like weaknesses.”
She listened without interrupting.
“Because you’re kind without being weak. Because you have opinions and dreams and a terrible habit of pretending you’re fine when you’re not. Because when you’re excited about something, your whole face changes.”
Her eyes softened.
“And because I love you.”
Karen looked down.
For a moment, I worried I had said too much.
Then she reached across the table and took my hand.
“I love you too.”
I felt my heart stumble.
She smiled.
