The Presence of Grace (Love and Loss #2) Read Online Free Page B

in. He was a parent. He’d think I was rude. But he was a parent . Certainly I couldn’t meet a parent at a bistro on a Friday night, for no academic purpose. This had to be against all kinds of rules.
    But even though there were a million reasons not to go in, I still felt compelled. There was something about him that pulled at me. There was this strange need to make sure he was all right. After three years of thinking about him, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to talk to him.
    It was with that small goal I opened my car door and climbed out, making my way to the bistro.
    Mr. Roberts was standing just inside the doors, hands in his pockets. He turned to me as I walked in, and smiled. For just one moment I was breathless. He was truly beautiful. Without my permission, my lips tipped up and smiled in response.
    “I was afraid you wouldn’t show,” he said quietly as I approached.
    “That would be rude.”
    “But understandable. This probably isn’t technically allowed.” His smile turned sheepish as he shrugged.
    I didn’t respond because I didn’t really know what to say. He was right. This wasn’t allowed. But, as far as I was concerned, it was completely innocent.
    Mostly innocent.
    “There’s a great spot in the back. They’ll bring us a menu.” I waved a hand and indicated I wanted him to follow me. Luckily, my favorite table was available. This was a great spot, but it wasn’t exactly a happening place. On a Friday evening there were a lot more exciting places for people to be.
    Just as I’d said, as soon as we were seated a waiter brought us both water and a menu.
    “This is a nice place,” Mr. Roberts said, looking around.
    “I come here most Fridays. They’re really friendly and let me sit here for hours. In fact, they’re probably wondering what I’m doing here with another person. I’ve always been alone.” I said the words and then felt the stinging in my gut. I hadn’t always been alone, but the sentence made me feel empty anyhow. “I mean, I’ve never come here with another person.”
    “The idea of going to a restaurant alone seems both terrifying and wonderful.” He smiled again.
    “It’s peaceful, that’s for sure. But it’s lonely sometimes,” I said honestly. Being lonely wasn’t the worst thing a person could be.
    He was quiet for a moment as he looked over his menu, but then said softly, “It’s funny, because my idea of lonely is probably very different than yours. Or most people’s, for that matter.”
    I took his words as a sort of invitation to talk about what was on my mind. “How’ve you been? You know, since I saw you last?” He exhaled loudly and I realized he might not want to talk about it. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to pry, but I wasn’t lying when I said I think about you all the time. I wonder about you.” I lift one shoulder in a shrug. “You were really upset.”
    “I should have never tried to go that night. It was a bad decision.” He ran a hand through his blond hair and I watched it fall right back into place. “Olivia had only been gone a short while. I hadn’t anticipated how it would feel to see married couples, parents, at an event like that. It just kind of struck a nerve, you could say.”
    “Wow,” I said wistfully. “I can’t even imagine.”
    “You were very gracious that night,” he said as his eyes met mine.
    “All I did was hand you a few Kleenex.”
    “Yeah, but you could have just kept walking. You could have ignored me.”
    “You would have been fine.”
    “Probably, but you didn’t know that. Not everyone would stop to help a perfect stranger.”
    His praise was making me uncomfortable, displayed by the blush on my cheeks. “And what are the odds that you and I both end up in Florida three years later? Meeting at another elementary school?”
    “It is peculiar, isn’t it?” he said, smiling again. He clasped his hands and rested his elbows on the table, peering at me over his hands. “My parents have