Page 62 of There I Find Hope

Her eyes roved over the tables and booths, finally landing on one where a man sat alone with his back toward her. It had to be Business Boy, unless he wasn’t there yet, since it was the only booth or table with a single man sitting at it.

She took a breath and opened the door.

The man’s hair was dark, a similar color to Noah’s. He wore a button up and his hands sat on the table in front of him, long fingers, short nails and they looked like capable hands. She liked them. They were younger-looking than she expected. Very much like Noah’s hands. She’d worked with Noah a good bit with Hope and had always admired his hands.

A flat rectangular box with a blue ribbon on it sat beyond his hands.

The candy.

This was Business Boy.

Sunday swallowed, allowed her lips to turn up and stepped up to the table.

“Hi. I’m-” Her voice cut off mid sentence as she got a good look at the man when he turned his head and looked toward the sound of her voice. “Noah?”

Business Boy was Noah?

His face held a bit of a smile, but concern wrinkled his brow.

Maybe because he knew who she was - he’d started writing to her because of Blake - and he must have been concerned about her reaction to him.

What was her reaction? After surprise, of course. She wasn’t upset. He hadn’t lied to her in any way, or tried to take advantage of her. He’d just reached out without telling her who he was. Maybe because of their backgrounds.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You’re not mad?” he asked as he stood to greet her.

“No.” She drew the word out, like she had to think about it, making sure it was the right answer. It was. “I guess I see why you didn’t say anything at first, but why didn’t you later? Especially after we started hanging out more?”

“I guess I wasn’t sure how. The longer it took me to figure out how and what to say when I told you, the more concerned I was that I’d ruin anything we started. And I didn’t want to lose you again.”

“Lose me?” She didn’t understand. What did he think was going to happen?

“You chose Glen. I guess I can’t lose something I never really had, but I did lose a friend.”

“Glenn was a mistake.” That was so true. “One I learned a good bit from, and one who helped me become a better person, but still a mistake.”

“And I still lost you over him. I didn’t want to lose you again.”

She blinked. She hadn’t realized he thought like that.

“You look surprised.”

“I...I.” It sounded like, even back in high school, he didn’t think of her as a friend. How did she say that?

He waited.

“I thought we were friends. But...”

“I wanted more.” His lips flattened. “I always wanted more.”

“Always?” She hadn’t known.

“Yeah.”

They stared at each other. She could read the truth in his gaze. He really had wanted to be more than friends with her. The truth of that was there now.

She touched her tongue to her lip and then decided to try to be brave. “I thought about kissing you a lot while you were gone.”

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