She looked across the cab of the truck at her rugged, big-hearted man, admiring his clean-shaven jaw, which was working double time as if he was nervous, too. Like most days, he wore his baseball cap backward. His black T-shirt strained over his biceps. His jeans were faded, his black leather boots scuffed and marred. She liked that he never tried to impress her, or anyone else for that matter. He was as genuine as a person could get, never cushioning the things he said or playing games with people’s emotions, and those qualities were among her favorites. She’d also realized that he was among the most communicative people she knew.

He reached for her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “Nervous, baby?”

“Yeah. Can you distract me? Tell me a story or something?”

“A story? Like Once upon a time?”

“Anything. Tell me the story behind your hat. Did your mom give it to you?”

He nodded, keeping hold of her hand. “How’d you know?”

“I figured it out the first time you introduced me to Adrian. When we talked about your mom, you fidgeted with it.”

“It was her lucky hat. She’d had it since before I was born. But she almost never wore it. She kept it by her bed on a hobbit snow globe. I asked her where she got it once, and she said someone who was all about elfin magic had given it to her on her first hobbit adventure.”

“Wow, that’s an old hat. When did she give it to you?”

His jaw clenched again, and he put both hands on the steering wheel, turning off the main road onto a side street. “After she got her final diagnosis. She said she saved all the magic in it for me. But I wouldn’t take it. If the damn thing had any magic in it, I wanted her to have all of it.”

“Aw, Diesel.” She got choked up. “You really are the sweetest guy.”

He gave her a disapproving look.

“You can be tough and still be sweet. When did you start wearing it?”

“After her funeral. When I left home, I took a backpack full of clothes, the hat, and a few other things.”

“Do you think there’s magic in the hat?”

“There must be.” He stopped at a red light, reaching for her hand again. He kissed her knuckles. “I found you.”

“See? Sweet and romantic.”