CEREAL DATER (The Way To A Man's Heart)

"Really?" I murmur.

He nods. "It has gone on long enough," he replies. "I have put up with it for a long time, I just – couldn't see it until now. Until I saw how they spoke to you. I’m sorry you had to put up with that. Nobody deserves to be treated that way, just because they come from a different world than you."

"Agreed," I whisper in return.

"And all they want is for me to be with that woman that they picked out for me," he continued. "I don’t know shit about her, but they’ve decided that she’s right, and I – I can’t go along with that. Not when I feel this with you."

"You feel it, too?” I breathe. He turns to me, some of the moonlight that is glancing off the water catching the lines in his face. He looks older than he did before. But still just as handsome. More handsome, even. He is a real man, who knows what he wants, and God, that is sexy.

"It’s why we’re leaving, tomorrow," he tells me. "I don’t want to sit through this farce. I want something real. And I don’t want to have to pretend anything else for another moment."

He catches my hand and brings it to his lips, plants a kiss against the back of it. Even though I’m smiling, I feel a wash of emotion catch me off-guard, and it’s not until he turns to me and sees the tears in my eyes that he realizes.

"What’s wrong?" he asks, worriedly, stroking my face and brushing away a tear with his thumb. I shake my head.

"Nothing," I murmur. "It’s just... it’s been a long time since someone made a sacrifice like that for me. It means a lot. Especially since..." I trail off. I don’t want to dump this all on him. This trip was meant to be fun. But he cups my face in his hand, and I know that I can tell him the truth.

"Especially since what?"

I take a deep breath. I know that I need to tell him the truth.

"I lost my parents," I confess. "Earlier this year. And God, it feels like it just ripped me apart. Both of them, gone in a car accident, just like that."

"I’m so sorry," he murmurs, and I shake my head.

"It’s why I opened the café," I explain. "Because when I was a kid – well, we never had much money, but my dad would bring home this ridiculous sugary cereal every Saturday morning, and we would all hang out on the couch and watch cartoons together, and it was... it was my happy place, really. I want to keep that alive. It’s why I didn’t want to leave the café, because if I fail at that, I feel like my last connection to them will be gone."

"That’s not true," he tells me at once. "You guys loved each other. Still love each other. You know how precious that is? To just have those moments like that, know that you were cared for by people who really wanted the best for you?”

"I think I’m starting to," I reply, and I kiss the center of his palm. "I can’t imagine how it must have been for you, being stuck with those – with people who just wanted to use you for what they needed."

"And you never will," he replies. "We’re leaving. And you can get back to that café of yours. I want to hear all the stories you have about your parents, all right? Everything you remember from them, everything you don’t want to forget."

"Thank you," I say back. It feels like far too small a sentence for everything that I am trying to say to him, but he understands me, and that is all that matters.

And, as he gazes into my eyes, I know what he is going to say next.

Chapter Nine

Landon

This woman. This woman – the way that she has just opened herself up to me, the way that she talks to me, the way that she lets me in, even when I brought her to a place where everyone treats her like an outsider, I don’t think I will ever have that kind of strength.

But I want to share in hers, if she will let me.

I know that the people back at that party will never understand what I feel for her. My parents never married for love, and my sister won’t, either. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t be honest about the way that I feel about this woman. She has been through so much, and I know she must still be so tender from all that she has experienced. And I want to be there for her as I help her through it. I want to prove to her that she can survive it all.