“Zack?”
“Yeah?” I said, looking up at her.
“Thank you.”
She said it softly and fervently, and she looked me directly in the eye. I felt her gratitude reverberate towards me and I was touched by the sincerity of it.
“You don’t have to thank me,” I said gruffly.
“No, I do,” she insisted. “You have no idea how amazing it felt to be outside… the ride here… that was one of the singular most liberating things I’ve ever experienced.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Does that mean you actually like my Harley now?”
Mila smiled. “I could get on board with motorcycles,” she nodded. “That was amazing.”
“I’m glad you had a good time.”
“Zack?”
“Yeah?”
“The dagger that I use in my training… did it used to belong to your father?” she asked.
I paused. Obviously, she had heard one of the guys talking. “Yes,” I admitted. “His father gave it to him when he was a teenager.”
“And your father gave it to you?”
“Well… yeah.”
“I feel weird using it now.”
“Don’t,” I said. “It suits you better, and I never really used it much. I think you should keep it.”
“Keep it?” Mila repeated, and she sounded astonished.
“Yeah,?
? I shrugged. “A little gift from teacher to student.”
“Seriously?”
“I’m dead serious,” I nodded.
“But even if you don’t really use it… it has to hold some sentimental value for you.”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not a sentimental person.”
“Bullshit,” Mila said emphatically. “I don’t buy that for a second. Every single person out there has a sentimental side. It’s just that some of us manage to hide it better than others. You put on this tough guy façade, and I understand that you need to, but I think I see through that now. Underneath it all… you’re a really decent man.”
I should have felt defensive about that assessment, but somehow, I didn’t. Instead, I felt…like I could be more of myself with Mila. And that was strange because I’d never felt that way with anyone else before… not my father or my mother.
“Mila… I have something to tell you,” I said.
“Ok?”
“I lied to you about the reason my father and I fell out when I was a teenager.”
Mila smiled slightly. “I knew that.”