Page 13 of The Perfect Secret

All the air left him and he didn’t know how to respond, what to do or how to breathe. It took every ounce of restraint not to leave his mouth hanging open. She reached a hand out to caress his arm. The pressure from her touch left a heated trail from his shoulder to his wrist. Was she admiring his arm or the wool?

“It’s soft too.”

That would be the wool. “Th-thank you.”

Hannah patted his shoulder. “I guess as the father of a teenager, you don’t get many compliments.”

Just like that, he could breathe again. He chuckled, as much to relieve his tension as in reaction to her comment. “You’d be correct.”

He placed his hand on the small of her back, ushered her out the door and into his car. He focused on maneuvering through the traffic on its way into the Lincoln Tunnel and hoped she didn’t mind his lack of conversation.

“I imagine parenting a teen is tough,” she said as they entered the tunnel. The artificial light gave off a sick yellow glow.

“It’s not any tougher than any other age, just different. You get a glimpse of what they’ll be like as adults, plus there’s more adult interaction, when I’m lucky. Although usually her comments about my clothes consist of, ‘Dad, you’re not wearing that, are you?’”

Hannah laughed. “Gotta be great on the ego.”

“Oh, I lost my ego a long time ago.”

“Well, that’s probably good for me.”

He reached for her hand and squeezed. The contact was for a brief moment, but his hand retained the imprint of hers after he let go.

They parked his car and entered The Rose Center for Earth & Space.

“We need to start at the bottom.” He pushed the LL button.

When the doors opened, they exited into the Cullman Hall of the Universe and Hannah turned in a slow circle. Between the initial sight of the glass cube and now the view of the Earth suspended from the ceiling bathed in blue lights, she was spellbound.

He couldn’t take his eyes off of her, though. Her face glowed. Her mouth, a little open, made him want to kiss her. He wantedmore. But it was too soon, too public, and he refocused his attention on giving her a proper experience at the planetarium.

“Never been here before?” Dan asked.

“No.”

“Then let’s take our time. Do you want to see the stars, planets, galaxies, or the universe?”

“Everything?”

Her enthusiasm warmed him. He placed his hand against the small of her back as he guided her toward each of the four zones. Dan started to think of the small of her back as “his” spot. His hand found its way there often. It kept them connected as he walked, somewhat awkwardly next to her. What would she do if he pulled her toward him and kissed her? Would she lean in or away?

After exploring for a half hour, and listening to her sighs of wonder, he ushered her into the elevator to the 1st floor and explored the Hall of Planet Earth.

“You know, if science had been this interesting in school, I might have developed a love of the subject,” Hannah commented, as she investigated the various geological specimens.

Dan blinked, trying to scrub his mind of the image of her in a white lab coat, glasses, and nothing else. He cleared his throat. “I agree. I never much liked science in school, but I loved coming here.”I love it even more with you.Dan pointed out some of his favorite rocks and minerals, as Hannah admired others. He preferred the ones with bright colors, while the history they revealed awed her. Her questions fascinated him and her observations illustrated things he hadn’t considered in a long time. Her lips, as she spoke, entranced him.

Twenty minutes later, they made their way toward the Heilbrunn Cosmic Pathway. As they walked along the spiral path, Dan pointed out facts of interest. Her grip on his armwarmed him and he wanted to pull her against him and revel in her closeness. When they got to the third floor and the Hayden Big Bang Theater, Hannah gasped.

“Pretty amazing, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know where to look first.”

They watched the Big Bang presentation. Or rather, Hannah watched the presentation; Dan watched Hannah. He loved listening to her questions, seeing the surprise and wonder on her face. Dan had come here on a regular basis since he was a kid. Each time, he learned something new, each time he couldn’t wait to return. This time, he learned about Hannah.

And forgot, for a short amount of time, about the pain in his leg. In fact, in all the time they’d been there, he hadn’t thought about the pain once. However, by the time they finished exploring the planetarium, Dan was hungry and his leg hurt. He’d miscalculated the amount of walking he’d have to do. Or maybe his leg muscles reacted to the tension of being on a date. Either way, he didn’t want to miss out on enjoying his time with Hannah. He turned to her and eased his weight onto his other leg.

“I made reservations at Isabella’s. We should be on time if we leave now.”