“Um, okay. Why?”
“For every question you answer, you get one back.”
“No, Leo. Come on. It’s been a grueling day.” Her hair was wet, and her shampoo filled the room with its fragrant scent. Her robe and slippers made her look sweet and vulnerable. But now she looked like she might kill him if he didn’t give her back those pieces ASAP.
“Humor me,” he said. “This will help us to get to know each other better. So we avoid those embarrassing gaffes in front of our family and friends.”
She heaved an overly patient sigh and sat down next to him on the couch. “Fine. Go. Ask if you must.”
Leo suppressed a twitch of nerves. He was going to tell her the truth. Because he wanted—no, needed—the truth from her.
And he was going to do what he’d never done before.
Get to know her. Understand her. Without getting carried away by physical attraction. A first for him.
“Let’s try it. What’s your favorite color?” he asked.
“Blue.” She held out her hand for a piece and wiggled her fingers impatiently until he handed her one.
“Okay, that makes sense. Because the kitchen dishes are blue. And you wear a lot of blue tops. And your eyes. Very blue.” He sounded like a fool. He also forced himself to stop staring into them.
“Next question. What’s your favorite food?”
“That’s easy. Pizza.” Her hand stretched out again. “Fork over another one, buddy.”
Okay, he was going to have to step it up or he was going to run out of pieces before he got her to tell him anything meaningful. “The questions are too easy.”
“Not my problem,” she said. “This is your game.”
“Aw, come on. Don’t you think games are fun?”
“I think puzzles are fun. By myself.” She chuckled a little. “Maybe that’s a big difference between you and me. You’re always upbeat and cheerful. You seem like you’d be a huge game player.”
“I’m not always cheerful. But I try.” He paused. He really didn’t want to get into talking about himself. But how else would she trust him if he didn’t do what he was asking her to do?
That was part of getting to know someone. Give and take. He wasn’t that much of a relationship newb.
“Before my mom died, she made me promise her something.”
“Leo, I’m just going to stop you for a sec.” She held out her hands. “Because this sounds a lot more serious than ‘What’s your favorite food?’”
“I want to tell you this, okay?” Game or no, he wanted her to hear it.
She rearranged the pieces she won back on the coffee table and studied the puzzle—longingly, he thought. Like she’d much rather be left alone to finish it. “Well, okay then. Tell away.”
He plunged in before he chickened out. “When my mom first got sick. I didn’t understand much about what was going on, but I knew it was serious. I remember crying a lot, not being able to sleep, not being able to do my schoolwork. So my dad took me to see her at the hospital. I was relieved she was alive.”
“Oh, Leo.” She put a hand on his arm. “You were so young.”
“She knew I was upset. And how hard it was for me to see her sick. She said we might have to be separated but I would never be separated from her love.” His voice cracked despite himself.
“Leo. No.” She was getting choked up, too. This game night was not exactly going as he’d planned.
He forced himself to finish the story. “She reached out and touched my cheek and said, ‘Leo, I want you to keep smiling.’ She said it would break her heart if she looked down from heaven and saw me devastated by her death. I had to go on, and I should do that by looking up and seeing the brightest side. That life was beautiful and full of love, and I shouldn’t let my sorrow prevent me from seeing the beauty in it.”
Tessa swiped at her eyes. “Leo, that’s—that’s really sad. But also very beautiful.”
He tapped a puzzle piece on his palm. “She believed that we’d be together again one day, and until then, she told me, she’d always be with me, watching me. So I had to live my life to the fullest and show her that I would keep my chin up and be happy.”
Tessa shook her head. “I’m really sorry.”
He realized in that moment that no matter what she had to say about the scholarship, he already knew who she was. And he’d been wrong about her. So wrong.
“So you tend to smile and be as upbeat as possible because of a promise you made to your mom?”
He shrugged. “In reality, I’m a real grouch.” Then he grinned.
She rolled her eyes. “You can’t even say you’re grouchy without smiling. That’s sick.” She tapped a finger against her lips. “Or maybe there’s something else going on here.”
“Nope. Nothing else.”
“I mean, something you might not even be aware of.”
Okay, this definitely wasn’t turning out the way he’d planned.
“Maybe you keep things light for another reason. Because it hurts to go deeper.”
“You lost me.”
“Like, in a relationship. How many have you had?”
“I’ve dated lots of women.”
She shook her head. “I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about more than dating.”
“I’ve had relationships,” he hedged.
“What’s the longest you’ve dated someone?”
He shrugged. “Three months.”
“Svana?” she asked.
“We only dated for a month.” Why did he start this ridiculous game again? “Look, maybe things haven’t worked out with women because I just haven’t met the right one, okay? I have plenty of stable relationships in my life.”
“Okay,” she said, holding out her hands in defense. “No judgment.” She paused. “Just a month with Svana, huh?”
Did she seem happy about that? He snapped a piece in place. There were two pieces left in his hands. “Here comes another question. Why didn’t you want to date me in high school?”
“That’s easy. Because you didn’t want to date me in high school. I was a nerd, and you weren’t.”
“I did want to date you, Tessa,” he said, looking her directly in the eye. “Until I ran into you kissing Sam by your locker.”