“So you live alone?”
“Just me, myself, and I.”
“Any animals?”
“Nope.”
“Is your real name Ollie?”
I nodded. “Short for Oliver.”
“Oliver…?”
“McFadden,” I said, and when I stopped walking, he looked back at me and then backtracked over.
“What? Did I ask too many questions?”
“No. It’s just that you never told meyourname, Reid…?”
“Oh. Valentine. Reid Valentine.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Reid Valentine.”Freakin’ Valentine? I’ll be damned if that’s not the most perfect name for this man.I held out my hand, and he stared at it for a moment before a lopsided smile crossed his face.
“Nice to meet you too, Oliver McFadden. Or do you prefer Ollie?”
“Either’s fine, but my friends call me Ollie.” I let go of his hand, not because I wanted to, but because he might start to question why I wanted to link fingers so soon after introducing ourselves.
As we began to walk again, Reid said, “I’m really glad I ran into you today, Ollie.”
Oh yeah. My stomach fucking flipped.
“Me too,” I said, trying to keep my voice nonchalant. “Glad to see you on your feet.”
“I wasn’t sure how to reach you. You know. To tell you how grateful I am for what you did.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Reid shook his head. “You go around saving lives like some kind of superhero and don’t even want to accept a ‘thank you’?”
I snorted. “A superhero?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been called that before.” I rubbed my stubbled jaw. “Which one?”
“Which superhero?”
“If I’m gonna be one, I better at least be one of the good ones.”
When Reid’s brow furrowed, I realized too late that, shit, maybe he didn’t remember any of the character’s names. But then he said, “Superman.”
“Whew. I’m so glad you didn’t say Ant-Man.”
“Who?”
“Uh, never mind.”
I was surprised how easy the conversation flowed as one mile turned into two. Reid had a never-ending set of questions for me, and I was only too happy to answer every one. For someone who’d gone through what he had in the past few weeks, he was, remarkably, not bitter. Instead, he was curious, friendly, and open. As open as he could be, anyway.