“I’m sorry I haven’t called. I’ve been so busy,” she said, looking back down at the ground.

“Well, I’m here now.”

“You are. How long have you been waiting?”

“Not long,” he lied. She smiled.

“The party I was doing ran over, and then there was traffic on I-24.” Shea nodded, still looking at the top of her head since she wouldn’t look at him.

They stood there for what seemed like forever, her looking down at the roses, while he stared at the top of her head.

“So, are you blowing me off?” he finally asked.

She looked up at him quickly, and then shook her head. The breath that he was holding came out in a whoosh. That was reassuring.

“I’m just embarrassed, Shea. I don’t know where to go from here.”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“Elli, I just want to see you, talk to you, be with you. I’m sorry if I did something wrong. I was caught up in the moment, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, Shea, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Then why did you run? Why haven’t I heard your voice in two days?”

She shrugged her shoulders, turning to look at the house.

“Would you like to go sit down? I need to let my dog out.”

“Sure.”

Shea followed Elli up the little cobblestone path to her porch. She climbed up, and opened the door to let her dog out. Shea tried not to laugh when he saw the porker of a dog running on four little legs, but it was hard and soon he couldn’t contain himself.

“I know you’re not laughing at my dog,” Elli warned. Shea smiled sweetly, bending down to pet the oversized pup.

“Of course not,” he lied, running his big hand down the dog’s back. The dog had a goofy look on its face as he licked Shea’s hand.

“How you doing, bud?”

The dog let out a little bark and took off for the field by the house. He watched the dog for a moment, and then looked up to where Elli was sitting on the steps. He gave her a small smile as he went and sat next to her. He tried to give her space, but he missed her so much, so he sat right beside her, his knee touching hers.

“It’s late, Shea. I know you have practice in the morning,” she said as she watched her dog, still not looking at him.

“I don’t care. Like I said, I wanted to see you.”

“You’re going to be hurtin’ in the morning,” she mumbled, just as the dog came barreling up the stairs to sit between her legs.

“I know, but you’re worth it.” She looked over at him, surprised.

Had no one ever told her that? Why was it every time he said something nice to her, she looked at him like he was from a different planet?

“Okay,” she said, kissing the dog’s head.

“You still haven’t told me your dog’s name,” he pointed out; she looked back up at him.

“Adler.”

Shea just stared at her. Adler was his last name. Did she name the dog after him?

“Adler?”

“Yup,” she said nonchalantly, as she kissed Adler’s head. She looked back over at him.

“I want to show you something. I think it will explain some of why I ran out the other day.” She reached into the sweater she had put on after going inside and pulled out a photo. She looked at him nervously before handing it to him.

He took the photo from her, and looked at it. It was a younger picture of her, maybe 18 or 19, doing some kind of silly pose; she had the same eyes, the same smile, the same hair, her cheeks were hallowed in a little, and her face wasn’t as round as it was now, but the only real difference was that in the picture she was skin and bones. She didn’t have the round ass she had, or the curves, or the br**sts. She was literally skin and bones.

“How old were you? 18?”

“17.”

He smiled; “You are a baby in this picture.”

She smiled nervously.

“I was super skinny.”

“Yes, you were.”

“I’m not now.”

It was like a light bulb went on in his head.

She was nervous about her body.

Her perfect, beautiful, mouth-watering body.

Was she crazy!?

“Baby, this picture is what, 10 years old?”

“I know, but you like girls that size and I’m not that size anymore, bigger in fact.”

Okay, she was pissing him off. He didn’t date damn skin and bone. Yes, he would admit to the Barbie dolls, but he did like meat on his women.

“Honey, I haven’t dated anyone this size in a while. When I was younger I did. But now they have meat on their bones.”

She shook her head.

“Shea, I have never seen you with a girl my size or even my look. That’s why you wanting to date me is so confusing. I’m nothing that you would want-.”

“How do you know what I want?” He asked, cutting her off. She just looked at him, surprised by his tone, probably, but she was pissing him off. She had just met him, how was she going to judge him by the women that he put on his arm.

“I dated those women as an easy way out. If I had some super model on my arm, people bowed down to me. Not only was I hot on the ice, but I had me a hot piece of meat on my arm.”

Shea knew he had said the wrong thing when he saw the look on her face. It was a mix of hurt, anger, and just plain embarrassment.

“And again, why would you want to date me? I’m not a super model, nor am I a size two, with fake tits.” she said, standing up, “I am an overweight photographer with a 40 pound dog that loves hockey and lives 45 minutes from town. What makes me worthy of being on your arm?”