“I know. I just don’t want to let them down or see them hurt,” I mutter, and change the subject quickly. “But there you go, there’s your truth. Now it’s my turn. Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” Declan answers without hesitation, and I’m grateful that he’s not trying to linger on what I just shared.

“Okay. I just shared some of my baggage with you, so I think it’s only fair you return the favor. What’s something true about you I don’t know but should?”

Declan takes a drink and turns the glass in his hand several times before he answers. “I’m dyslexic,” he says matter-of-factly.

My brows shoot up. “Really?”

“Yup, really.”

“Wow. I wouldn’t have known.”

He huffs a quiet laugh, lifting one shoulder. “You asked for baggage. There it is.”

“I’m sorry,” I rush, feeling totally insensitive for even asking him that. “We don’t have to talk about any of this if you don’t want to.” But Declan’s hand flies back out to rest on my wrist, stopping me.

“Honestly, there isn’t much I feel like I can’t share with you.” His words wrap around my heart like a caress. My hands fidget until Declan puts his on mine and squeezes my fingers. “Besides, you just shared something super personal with me, so it’s only fair, like you said.”

Several questions buzz in my head, but I don’t know how to ask them in a way that isn’t problematic. And I don’t want to make him feel like he’s under a microscope either, so I’m not sure what to do until he starts laughing at me.

“There you go again, all in your head.”

“Am I really that obvious?” I ask with a self-conscious smile, and Declan nods hard.

“Sorry to break it to you, but yeah, you are. And since I already know you’re wondering, I got diagnosed as a kid. It was rough at first, but once I learned some tools to help me, it got a lot easier. It still trips me up every now and then though.”

“It must have been so hard to have to deal with that as a kid. I know how awful kids can be to each other.”

Declan continues caressing the back of my hand with his thumb. “Yeah, I wasn’t any exception to that. They were ruthless. And my dad wasn’t much better about it.”

“Are you serious? Your own dad bullied you for that?”

“Let’s just say he wasn’t exactly the best guy in the world. My mom and I struggled for a while financially after he left, but we still weren’t all that upset to see him go, even when the health problems she was having turned out to be Parkinson’s.”