The Summer of Me by Angela Benson Read Free Book Online

followed Daniel to one of the empty tables for two. “I wonder if Gavin and Natalie set this table up just for us.”
    Destiny chuckled. “I wouldn’t put it past them.”
    He put their plates down and pulled out a chair for Destiny. After she was seated, he went to get drinks for them. When he returned, he sat in the chair next to hers. “It really is nice to finally meet you,” he said again. “Gavin and Natalie had me intrigued.”
    Destiny picked up her fork and dipped it in the potato salad on her plate. “I don’t know if I can live up to the hype.”
    Daniel smiled. “You already have.”
    Destiny met his eyes briefly before looking down at thefood on her plate. If this was flirting, she liked it. It had been so long since she’d engaged in such banter that she wasn’t sure. She glanced back up at Daniel, thinking again that flirting was not bad at all.
    He gave her another smile. “So, mystery Destiny, what’s the first thing you want me to know about you?”
    She met his eyes. Since she knew he already knew about her kids, she said, “I’m the mother of six-year-old twins, KJ and Kenae.”
    â€œThey were tighter with information than I’d guessed. I knew you had two kids but I didn’t know they were twins. Do twins run in your family?”
    She shook her head. She hadn’t wanted the conversation to turn to past relationships this early. Even though she had very little recent dating experience, she knew that talking about old flames was a big dating no-no. “That comes from Kenneth, their father. There are three sets of twins on his mother’s side of the family.”
    â€œWell,” Daniel said, “this is not where I wanted the conversation to go.”
    â€œThat’s all right,” Destiny said, heartened by his sensitivity. “As their father, Kenneth’s a part of their lives, which makes him a part of mine.”
    â€œSo you two have a good relationship?”
    She considered before answering. “We make it work because we both love the kids,” she said in all honesty.
    â€œGood for you. With names like KJ and Kenae, I assume they’re named after him.”
    She nodded. Her kids’ names were a harsh reminder ofhow much she had loved Kenneth and wanted to have a life with him. “What can I say? KJ is Kenneth Junior and Kenae is a feminine version of Kenneth. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
    â€œIt’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” he said. “I think I’d be honored to have kids named after me—DJ and Danielle. It has a nice ring to it.”
    â€œThose are great names,” she said, appreciating his attempt to put her at ease. He was beginning to convince her that he was one of the good ones. “Do you have kids?”
    He shook his head. “My wife and I wanted kids but we weren’t blessed. She died a couple of years ago, breast cancer.”
    â€œI’m sorry,” she said, recalling what Natalie had said about Daniel suffering from heartbreak the way she was. “Breast cancer has touched my family, too. My mother is a survivor.”
    â€œI’m sorry to hear it but glad your mother is well,” he said. “It’s a scary disease that affects people in such different ways. I think it was scarier for me than it was for Gloria, my wife.”
    â€œI know what you mean,” Destiny said. She remembered how she had clung to Kenneth during that time. Even with the demands of being a scholarship college basketball student, he’d been there for her when she’d needed him. She’d already started falling in love with him but his support when her mom was sick had sealed the deal. When she looked back on it, she realized she had gotten pregnant during the time her mother had been going through her surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation treatments. A part of her still wondered if she’d