Page 33 of His Tenth Dance

“You want me to climb up there?” she’d asked.

“Yes.”

And Kristie had done it.

He’d followed, using only one hand to climb that ladder, and joined her on the roof of the single-story cabin. It had a gently sloping roof that probably only rose up ten feet at the very pinnacle. Someone—she was guessing Mission himself—had put a loveseat there, facing west.

Kristie now sat on the dark brown microfiber, her stomach full, her soul rejoicing, and her heart happier than it had been in a long time.

They still had at least an hour until it would be full dark, but the towering, majestic Rocky Mountains in the west did cause the sun to officially set earlier than it would otherwise.

Mission had told her a lot of heavy things about his past, and that had only spurred Kristie to want to tell him about the reasons she’d left Anthem—a suburb in the Phoenix area—and never gone back. At the same time, he’d said he was all talked out, and Kristie didn’t want to lay more at his feet than either of them wanted tonight.

He’d kept the conversation easy and light, talking about how he’d like to adopt a dog that could keep him company on the walk to and from work every day.

They’d talked about his favorite holidays—Christmas and Easter—and she’d learned that both were because of the food. He didn’t care about decorations or dressing up. He liked having ham and potatoes, or turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy. She’dteased him about how almost all of his good memories had revolved around food.

“Including this one,” he’d said and taken another bite of his pizza. He sure knew what to say to make Kristie’s insides turn to goo, and she didn’t mind that one bit.

She tossed her crust into her box at her feet and toed it further away from her. “I am so full,” she said.

She’d only eaten three pieces of pizza, but Mission had gotten larges for both of them, so she’d have plenty of leftovers for lunch tomorrow and the next day.

“Same,” he said, though he’d eaten half his pie before even slowing down. “I’m just gonna have one more piece,” he added as he separated it from the rest. “Do you know much about the mountains?”

“I mean, a little bit,” she said. “While I was starting up my veterinary practice here, I worked as a school aide. We did some field trips where we had to take the kids on hikes and read all the signs on the trails.”

He smiled over at her. “That sounds so like you.”

“Does it?” she asked.

“I mean, I think so,” he said. “I can see kids liking you.”

“Why would they like me?”

“You’re pretty, and smart, and patient.”

“Pretty, and smart, and patient.” She grinned at him, not sure she’d use all of those words to describe herself. But from him, they sounded like the truth. “Thank you, Mission.”

He stuffed his mouth full of pizza, and while the sun had definitely turned more golden since they’d been on the rooftop, she could still easily see the flush that colored his cheeks.

“I’m going to order a haircutting kit right now,” she said, retrieving her phone from where she’d stuck it under her leg.

“You won’t be able to get service out here,” he said.

Sure enough, she had no bars. “Huh. I bet I can get one in town,” she said. “I was just going to order online.”

Mission hummed and dusted his hands together, closing his pizza box. Then he leaned toward her as he opened the armrest on the side of the loveseat. “You want a bottle of water, kitten?”

“You have water in that thing?” she asked.

Mission chuckled as he lifted an ice-cold, dripping bottle of water out of the armrest. “This thing has a cooler in it,” he said. “I was hoping it would last all day, because I came this morning and put ice and drinks in it. And it looks like it did.”

He’d come this morning and put ice and drinks in the couch on the roof. Kristie wasn’t sure why, but that simple gesture of preparing in advance for their date made her fall a little bit in love with him.

“What else you got in there?” she asked.

“Diet Coke,” he said. “Diet Dr. Pepper—that’s for me. A Sprite. And this is….”

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