Chapter 23

We had coffee together after visiting the shelter. The Best Pour occupied by local college students who sat at the maple tables and studied for their exams. Most keyed information on their phones or laptops and listened to music in their ear buds.

Jax ordered his favorite drink: a medium Cognomina bean mixed with vanilla and caramel.

I told the twenty-something woman behind the counter, “I’ll have the same thing.”

We sat across from each other at a two-person table adjacent to middleweight jocks who looked as if they had more brawn than brains. As we sipped our drinks, rubbing knees together under the table, we talked about the weather, a cold front moving into the city, providing a mixed tundra of wind and snow, and how much he liked to spend time with me.

He said over his coffee cup, “I’m drawn to you, Victor. I’m not sure why or how, but I am. I like you more than a little and wouldn’t mind spending every day with you.”

“It’s too soon for a proposal,” I told him.