Ever since his “Don’t get mugged” comment last week, I’d kind of been avoiding him. As soon as we got in his car, he called me on it. “I’ve been trying to catch you, but you always seem to be heading in the other direction.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

There wasn’t much more to say on the subject. The whole drive to Wendy’s in his Xterra I thought about Cole and Lexi and Josh sitting at the round table.

In the restaurant, I picked at my biggie fries. Comfort food, Anthony called it with a tired smile. I gave him a thin one back, but wasn’t comforted. Even the Frosty wasn’t doing much for me, and I live for those.

I looked across the table at him. His mouth pulled into a sheepish smile as his tongue cleared the ketchup from the corner.

“Let’s go out this weekend.”

I fidgeted. A date?

“Just something simple,” he added, reading my apprehension. “A drive in the mountains. You don’t even have to talk.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, realizing that I hadn’t said a word since I ordered my food. “I’m just …”

He tried to get me to look him in the eye. But the connection scared me. I wasn’t ready to get close to him, to let him inside, only to have my heart ripped apart whenever fate decided it was over. His hand dropped over mine. “I know. It’s still hard. It can wait.”

“No, it’s not just that. My mom doesn’t let me date.” It was kind of an excuse. It was true, though.

“We don’t have to call it a date. You can pay,” he added with a grin.

A timid laugh rumbled in my chest. “I’ll think about it.”

I thought about how much I wanted to be with him. I just didn’t know how to leap into the unknown.

In the Wendy’s parking lot, I reached to open the car door. “Wait,” Anthony said, and I turned to him. As he looked in my eyes, he reached out and touched my lips, his fingers stroking their fleshy surface with an oddly intense focus. He was ruining my lipstick, but I couldn’t move or say anything. The kindness in his eyes broke my heart.

I watched, confused, as he put his thumb in his mouth, sucked on it for a second and then reached out. “Close your eyes,” he whispered. As I did, he pressed the wet pad of his thumb to my eyelid. With extremely gentle strokes he wiped the makeup away.

My heart gripped, and I whispered, “What are you doing, Anthony?”

“I want to kiss you,” he said simply. “And I want to know I’m kissing the right girl.”