Love rose in her eyes. “I don’t need fancy, Quincy. I only need you.”

“I know, but I want this for you, babe. You may not remember, but before we started going out, I had asked you over text if you could go to one restaurant in our area, which would it be, and you said—”

“Dimitri’s,” she said softly. “I don’t know what to say. I’ve never been anywhere this fancy.”

“You don’t have to say a word. Your eyes have always told me what you’re thinking, and I love you, too.” He kissed her and went to help her out of the truck.

They headed into the dimly lit, intimate restaurant. There were only about twenty tables, with candles in the center. White lights surrounded the windows overlooking the harbor. Moonlight danced along the surface of the inky water.

Quincy helped Roni off with her coat, and she whispered, “Everyone is dressed to the nines. Do I look okay? Why am I so nervous?”

“Maybe because you know you’re the most beautiful woman in here and all the others are jealous.” They hung up their coats in the coat room and, out of view from the hostess, he pulled her into his arms, kissing her passionately until she went soft against him. Then he brushed his lips over hers and said, “Better?”

She sighed. “Much.”

They were seated by a window, just as Quincy had requested when he’d made the reservation. The view of the water was beautiful, but nothing compared to the view across the table of the girl who had stolen his heart and showed him what living a full life was really about. They shared appetizers of roasted tomatoes and sage and Halloumi-roasted broccoli with caramelized leeks. Roni couldn’t stop raving about the food and the atmosphere. He was glad he’d chosen well. He’d learned a lot about her over the past several weeks, like the way she played with the ends of her hair when she was concentrating and how her feet and arms moved when she was thinking through a dance routine, even if she was sitting down. She liked to lie in bed in the mornings and let the day drift in, reveling in the peacefulness because she’d spent so many years afraid to hear what was outside her window. He’d learned about her eating habits, too, like the fact that she loved pasta and bread, though she preferred whole wheat to white, and she preferred fruits and vegetables over protein. She and Quincy were frugal eaters, having grown up on shoestring budgets, but they liked to experiment when they cooked together, which often led to them messing around or making love and then eating one of Roni’s secret indulgences—pizza or tacos. He’d also noticed that she wasn’t big on sweets unless they made them, like the pies and cookies they’d made. He’d never paid so much attention to everything about a person before, and with Roni, it wasn’t like he even tried. He just adored everything about her and noticed it all.