“What?” Sarah frowned, shaking her head. “No. I’m sure he doesn’t.—What about you? Did you have a teenage crush?”

He shrugged. “Not really. My teenaged fantasies all revolved around becoming a soldier.”

“Seriously? No special girl from your past who still holds your heart?”

Now why had she asked that? It wasn’t as if it mattered to her whether he did or didn’t have someone special waiting for his return someday.

“I rarely dated, and it was nothing serious when I did. It wouldn’t have been right to try for something more when I knew I’d be leaving with no return planned.” He stroked his hand over Harry’s neck. “So, no, there isn’t anyone special from my past.”

She barely heard the last part as the high school band moved their way, playing an upbeat Christmas tune and making conversation temporarily impossible. Which was just as well, as she might have said something silly, such as that she was glad he didn’t have someone special waiting on him.

How selfish of her to feel that way. She should want Bodie to have someone, to feel love and happiness.

Yet, hearing him say that there wasn’t someone special, that there never had been, pleased her in ways it shouldn’t. In ways that a friend shouldn’t feel about a friend.

Ignoring her tumultuous thoughts, she swayed and sang along with the upbeat band. Later, in the quiet of the night, she’d think over the day, over how much fun she’d had with Bodie, and maybe then she could label the giddiness in her belly when he smiled.

After the group passed, when they could hear each other talk again, Sarah asked, “How about band? Do you play an instrument?”

Bodie straightened from where he’d been squatted with Harry and glanced toward her. “What is this? Twenty questions?”

“Just curious about you.”

“I was a boring kid in high school, Sarah. No sports, no band, no clubs, very few girlfriends. Just school, ROTC, and working for my stepfather. That kept me plenty busy.” Before she could ask another question, he turned the tables. “How about you?”

“Me? I did a few school clubs, no sports or ROTC, and spent all my spare time away from school with my father, with Aunt Jean and the Butterflies, at church, or some combination thereof.”

He adjusted Harry’s leash handle. “You left out the boyfriend part.”

Her cheeks heated. Not from the thought of anyone from the past, but at the way Bodie looked at her, the way he seemed edgy as he waited for her answer. As if her answer mattered. As if she mattered.

“I had a few boyfriends during high school,” she admitted. “Mostly guys I met through our church youth group. Nothing serious.”

“How about since high school?”