He stole a peek behind him, probably to ensure that Emily wasn’t anywhere near, and dropped his voice. “You heard most of it already,” he said. Lila had to step closer to hear him, even though proximity to this man was the last thing she needed. There was something about him that was so…easy. Easy to like, easy to trust.

Easy to fall for.

“Emily has never been great at making friends.” He sighed. “I don’t know why. I used to think it was because of the implants and the speech classes she has to go to, but there’s more to it than that. She’s… Quiet. Reserved.”

Lila nodded. Quiet and reserved were two qualities she was intimately acquainted with.

“So much of her life has been spent being poked and stared at by strangers, dragged from one specialist to the next. She’s taken every bit of it in stride, but that’s a lot to ask of such a little kid. Add a parent who has no idea what he’s doing most of the time, and this is what you get. A six-year-old with the weight of the world on her shoulders.”

That was another thing Lila could readily understand. Take an already level-headed child and throw her into a routine of doctors and adult responsibilities, and the results were understandably quiet. Reserved. Cold.

“I owe Helen so much,” he added candidly. “Helen and Maddie and Danica and pretty much every other parent within a five-block radius. Some days, they’re the only way I’m able to get from start to finish. Other days, well…”

“Well?” Lila prompted.

He shrugged his shoulder and offered her a rueful grin. “There’s just so many of them.” With a laugh, he added, “It was wrong of me to use you like that, and I really am sorry about putting you in that position, but you saw how quick she was to give us some time alone, how easily she dropped her plans for this weekend. She almost never does that. As strange as it sounds, this is the first time in years that I’ve been able to breathe.”

If Lila had thought that being physically close to this man was a bad idea, it was nothing compared to the effect his confession was having on her. His flirtation startled her, his playfulness unsettled her, his charm knocked the air from her chest. Honesty, however, was turning out to be the worst of the lot. In that moment, his handsome face so earnest—so pleading—he could have asked her for anything, and she’d have given it to him.

Partially to preclude this catastrophe from taking place and partially because he seemed to expect a response, she nodded once. “Okay.”

He shifted, his posture again resuming its strong, wide stance. “Okay, what?”

“Okay, I understand. Okay, I forgive you.”