Page 65 of Buried Treasure
She swallowed down the emotions that were threatening to break through. "I'm finding it hard to trust people right now so what I need from you is patience."
Andy took a deep breath and jumped down from his bench. Then he walked over, standing with his body between her legs as they dangled over the edge, his hands on her hips.
"I know both of us have some work to do, but I want to do that work so I can be the man who trusts you, and I want you to know that you can always trust me."
She nodded, no longer able to keep the tears in her eyes from falling. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, her hands balled up in the back of his t-shirt as if she would collapse onto the floor right there if she didn't have him to anchor her.
Then she cried.
The first time she cried in front of Andy, it felt awkward and weird. Although some of that was because she had just met him and he thought she was crying about a dead goldfish. But this time, he understood her. He knew her story. She didn't have to lie or cover it up or pretend it didn't exist with him, because he knew that there was turmoil in her.
Andy also knew how to comfort her in all of that. He slowly pulled away from her and kissed the wet spots on her cheeks, not afraid of showing her some compassion when she needed it. Then he swept his thumbs over the spots he had kissed and held her face in his hands.
"You OK?"
She nodded. "I'm better."
He kissed her gently, his lips more of a soft embrace than the heat he had shown her before. But again, he pulled away and smiled at her.
"I don't know what your plans are now, but would you like me to take you home?"
She gave him a warm smile in return. "I would like that very much."
