“Thank you. Honestly, it felt clunky.”

He laughs. “Not at all. You did fine.”

I scan the room, looking for Winter, but don’t see her. If I know my girl, she’s probably crying in the bathroom stall because all of this romance makes her so happy she’s sad. She admits to being a romantic, but she’ll never reveal the extent of it. Especially in front of me, a man who has claimed to deny love’s existence. That makes her sad too, no doubt.

“I apologize for my sons earlier. They’re very protective of their sister. More so after their mother died.”

“No apologies necessary, Gary. Truthfully, I’m glad. I seem to have become protective of her myself, so I understand the need.” I take a slow sip of my whiskey. “Not that she needs it. She’s more of a bulldog than anyone I’ve known.”

He tilts his head back and laughs. “That she is, Aleck. She’s just like her mother. Almost a carbon copy.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“Has she told you about Jolie?”

“A little. Full disclosure? I’ve researched the case extensively. I hope you’re not offended, it’s just… My way of understanding.”

“I’m not offended. Though the court and police reports won’t tell you how my daughter feels.”

“You’re right. I apologize. It seems I have a lot to learn about connecting with people. Your daughter is helping me in that way.”

“She always did feel it was her duty to fix people.”

Ouch.

He smiles warmly, though I sense a warning coming.

“The first time I met Jolie, she was reading on the stoop of my apartment building. I had never seen her there before, but the building was very large and always had vacancies. So, naturally I assumed she had just moved in or we just hadn’t crossed paths yet. I was bold and headstrong back then, but just barely twenty, so of course my faults were lost on me.”

He swirls the amber liquid in his glass, slowly curling his lips into a reminiscing smile. “Even though I had to be at work, I struck up a conversation that led to lunch, then a walk around our neighborhood. She was so beautiful. Her long caramel hair, soft brown freckles across her cheeks and nose, her long slender legs… I couldn’t understand why she was indulging me. I was cocky and presumptuous, she was soft and splitting at the seams with passion. I missed an entire day’s work, but I spent it getting to know my future wife.”

“Worth it in the long run,” I say, scanning the room for Winter, but still no sign of her.

“Right, I agree,” Gary says, ushering me back to our conversation. “It was worth it for me, of course. She was far beyond what I deserved. But how do we know when we are worthy enough for them?”

And there it is: the warning.

“I asked Jolie to meet me on my stoop every day so I could see her before I went to work. So, she did. She met me on that stoop every day for two months before she finally agreed to go out with me. That’s when I learned she was only waiting for a friend that first day. She didn’t live in that building. In fact, she lived clear across town. And in LA, two miles feels like ten without transportation. An hour of travel and two bus rides later, she arrived every day with a smile just to see me for fifteen minutes before I went to work.”