“Yeah. I do. But over ice cream,” he confirmed.
While his fingers curled and uncurled reflexively around his steering wheel, Lace wondered what was up.
It didn’t seem like whatever was on his mind was exactlybad…
She’d have to wait.
Vince drove them out of the hospital lot, adding, “I sure hope that what I say won’t scare you away.”
CHAPTER NINE
“I don’t suppose you can help me get out of this jester paint?” Vince asked as they pulled into the parking lot at Giffords.
The place was hopping, per usual.
“You want me to…?” Lace looked a little bit like a deer in the headlights as her hands fluttered in the direction of his face.
“Yeah. Unless you want me to end up entertaining everyone here instead of giving all my attention to you,” Vince grinned. “I’ll oblige some fans, but I’m warning you. From experience, I know it could take a while. And let’s not forget, my main goal here is to ply you with ice cream, find out all about who Lace really is, then talk about Inez.”
“Let’s lose the clown, then.” Lace’s agreement spilled out as if she was just catching up with what he said.
If Vince wasn’t mistaken, Lace had been doing that “lost in her head” thing again, something that he was finding adorable. He hoped that, in time, she’d share all those little escapes-from-reality with him, so he could help make some of what she was imagining, come true.
Vince, impishly, was already picturing a room in whatever house his mother would eventually help pick out, decorated like a circus tent. Which would mean…
Yeah. And wow.
This could be…real.
At least he hoped the excitement he was feeling toward Lace, was sustainable. She was the first woman he’d come in contact with in years who made him want more than a quick romp between the sheets.
But his past…
Dammit.
Vince would be devastated if Lace jettisoned him once she heard all the stories of his youthful antics. He, unfortunately, had what some in his family would call a “colorful past”, but Vince didn’t want Lace to get the wrong idea. Just because he’d once been the class clown, didn’t mean he wasn’t taking life seriously, now.
As he was about to let her in on it.
He wondered for a second how she’d react to his foster parent plan. Would she think he was being impetuous?
Vincent swiftly dismissed his worries. Lace, herself, had stepped up her game when she’d found out about Inez’s situation. She clearly had her empathetic head on straight, and probably wouldn’t even blink that his was, too. It might even earn him some points with her, but that wasn’t his goal. His main objective was to make the lives of two wonderful females he’d just met, a little easier.
Vince turned off the truck, removed his seatbelt, and leaned over to rummage in the back seat.
“I have wet wipes around here, somewhere,” he said, digging through the pile of spare diving gear he always carried around these days in case of emergency.
Lace glanced back at the equipment. “Nice,” she said. “Looks like quality stuff. I haven’t been diving in a long time,” she revealed with a regretful twist to her mouth.
“You dive?” Vince asked, excitement stirring in his gut.
Plans for a second date began taking shape before the first one had even gotten underway.
“I used to all the time with my grandfather, but I kind of lost interest once he passed.”
“I’m sorry,” he responded sincerely. He could tell they must have been close.
“Thanks. I miss him and Gram, every day.”