Page 20 of Chasing Danger

My face burned hot with embarrassment, and I stared down at the sidewalk. “It’s not my eyes I’m trying to hide.”

He didn’t say anything in response, and my heart sank.

What could he say?

My scars were impossible to ignore.

A strange sensation on my left cheek made me jump. I stared up at D’Angelo in shock, holding my cheek with one hand. My skin was slightly damp.

He’d just kissed my cheek. His lips had brushed against my scarred skin without flinching. No one had ever done that before. Not even my mother. As a kid, whenever she kissed me, it was always on the right cheek.

I never realized the scars were so sensitive. The place where D’Angelo had kissed still tingled, and I could practically feel the exact shape of his mouth.

Still, he didn’t say a word. Just smirked at me before stepping away to speak with Rowan.

I remained rooted in place, too shocked to move or speak. Already this date wasn’t going how I expected, and my heart felt like it was going to vibrate right out of my chest.

Rowan’s excited voice broke through my stupor and brought me back to reality.

“The ships? All of them? Really? I’ve always wanted to go.”

He was practically bouncing in his wheelchair. Whatever D’Angelo said had made him happier than I’d seen in a long time.

“I’m glad you approved of my choice,” D’Angelo said in all seriousness. “The nearest one is just up ahead. The USS Constellation. We can start there, unless there’s a different one you’d rather see first.”

“No, that’s fine. Let’s go.”

Rowan led the way, eagerly pushing his wheelchair down the street. The nurse stayed nearby, always on hand, but far enough away to not be intrusive. D’Angelo walked beside Rowan’s chair, continuing their discussion about ships.

With a sinking feeling, I slipped in beside D’Angelo and whispered so only the other man could hear me. “Where are we going?”

Eagerly pulling me closer, D’Angelo settled his arm over my shoulder. “There’s a bunch of historic naval ships displayed here in the harbor, with tours to go explore them. I figured it seemed like something a teenage boy who likes monster movies and explosions might be interested in.”

It was exactly as I feared. Biting my lip, I swallowed past the knot of disappointment and dread in my throat.

“I should have warned you. We’ve tried bringing Rowan here before, but the ships aren’t very wheelchair friendly. Most of them are only accessible by gangplanks, which are too steep and narrow for him to navigate. Even the ships he can access, he’ll be stuck on the top deck since the bottom parts of the ship require a ladder to reach. He won’t be able to do most of the stuff.”

I expected disappointment, or maybe even anger, so I was surprised when D’Angelo just calmly squeezed my shoulder.

“It’s fine. They’ve done some remodeling to make the ships more handicap accessible. He should have no problem.”

“What?”

I glanced out over the harbor at the looming figure of the nearest ship floating in the water. Just as D’Angelo had said, the gangplank onto the ship looked different than I remembered. Wider, and with a much shallower incline that would be easy for a wheelchair to manage.

“But, I never heard about any renovations, and I usually try to keep an eye on these things.”

“Well, the changes were recent,” D’Angelo waved away my confusion. “Perhaps you just hadn’t heard about it yet. It’s lucky for us, though. Come on. I’ve booked tours for all of the ships, plus the lighthouse.”

Despite D’Angelo’s claim that he wanted my attention, he spent an unexpected amount of time talking with Rowan. It was just general conversation, like favorite movies and books, and other places in Baltimore that were worth checking out. Yet, it was more than I had expected.

In the past, even people who seemed to be accepting of my brother usually just ignored him as much as possible. I expected this date to be the same, and would have considered it a success so long as D’Angelo wasn’t outright cruel to Rowan.

For D’Angelo to actually take the effort to engage my brother and make him feel like a part of the outing, rather than just a necessary tag-along, was far better than I’d even dared to hope for.

The first ship we visited was the oldest of the bunch, and reminded me of a pirate ship. A tour guide walked us through the ship, explaining its history and giving brief lessons about how sailing worked nearly two hundred years ago.

The contraption that was used to lower Rowan’s chair down into the bottom half of the ship reminded me of elevators in mineshafts. It was hoisted by hand on a pulley system and couldn’t hold more than two people at a time.

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