She’d never had any contact with men apart from her father, so she doesn’t know if this easy conversation that she has with Bob could be replicated with anyone else. She has no desire to find out, so it’s likely she’ll never know.

”I’d forgotten you’re still pretty new here,” she admits, ”You seem so comfortable that I could imagine you being here forever.” She considers what it must be like on the mainland, where laws and culture may be so different that she would never be able to survive. ”My family has been here for generations so I’ve never known anyone else to have been to the mainland.”

She wonders if he would mind her asking about his life before coming to the islands, but she doesn’t want to appear nosy. There must have been something that he hadn’t liked about it, considering he’d taken the chance of uprooting his young daughter and moving her to a strange place. She mentally shakes off the urge to ask and almost misses his oh-so-casual follow up.

She ducks her head and swallows nervously. Bob is a great guy and it almost overwhelms her to think that in a different life he would have overlooked her handicap to the point of favoring her. Her heart skips an occasional beat as her eyes flit around trying to find anything but him to focus on. Whatever she’s feeling, it’s new and something she doesn’t have a name for.

Still, her voice is steady and her tone warm as she addresses him. ”Thank you, Bob, that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me. You’re a great friend.”