Keep Me Safe by Elaine Breson

closed off. I don’t do it intentionally. I guess it’s just a bad habit of mine. Not that I have the right to ask you for any favors, but you just have to be patient with me. There are things I’m trying to work through.” He doesn’t deserve this. I’m totally going to screw this up. “I like you Parker, but that scares me. I’m not quite sure how much I can give you right now.”
    “I’ll take whatever you’re willing to give. I’d never push you to move faster than you want to go. I’m not very good at this either.”
    I needed to lighten this conversation, “Yeah, Beth said you were a troublemaker. What’s that all about?” I gave him a small smile and it seemed to ease the serious look on his face.
    “Well, let’s just say my track record with women isn’t the best. I know how that sounds, but I might as well be honest with you. Beth gives me a hard time and tells me I’m a ‘love ‘em and leave ‘em’ kind of guy. But honestly, I got tired of the one night stands and carefree dating a long time ago. I just haven’t had a lot of time to start looking again. Work has kept me pretty busy.”
    “Yeah, I imagine it’s demanding. What made you become a cop?”
    “I like to help people. I wanted to join the military, but my cousin was killed shortly after he was deployed, so my mom begged me not to. He and I weren’t very close, but it broke my heart to see her like that, so I went for what I thought was the next best thing.”
    “Is it what you thought it would be?”
    “Usually it’s great. I love helping people. It’s just cases like the one I mentioned earlier that make the job a little harder.”
    I pulled my knees up and wrapped my arms around them. Just sitting here having a calm conversation with Parker was something I hadn’t done in a long time. These calming moments were doing wonders for my anxiety and I felt a tiny bit of weight leaving my shoulders.
    Parker laid back and rested on his elbows. “What about you? Why did you become a music teacher?”
    “It’s what I’m good at. Music runs in my family and it’s the only thing I’ve ever done. It means a lot more to me knowing that I’m helping kids learn it too. I think it’s something you really have to have a passion for.”
    “I can tell. Your face lights up when you talk about it.”
    “Yeah, I’m a true band geek, through and through.” I gently leaned my knees over and nudged his legs; an unstoppable smile spread across my face. I wasn’t sure whether it was because we were talking about music or because I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else at that moment, but I couldn’t have stopped it if I tried. A small breeze picked up and a chill ran through me; my body shivered slightly.
    “Are you cold? We can go back to the car and get out of here.” Parker stood up and reached his hands out to me again. I gave him a funny look and I could tell he knew I was thinking about last week on the beach. “I learned my lesson last weekend. I’ll never fall in front of you again.” We both laughed and I put my hands in his as he pulled me up. Once I was up, we stood there with our hands clasped together between us, our gazes carrying on the conversation of words we hadn’t spoken.
    I turned my body and we both started walking up toward the street, but Parker didn’t let go of my hand. He intertwined our fingers and rubbed just above my thumb with his own. It was something so simple, but it felt as though our hands were made to fit perfectly together. When we got back to the parking lot, Parker opened the door for me and I got in the car.
    We drove back to my house in silence except for the music on the radio. Not long after leaving, the song “Glass” by Thompson Square came on. How fitting. I leaned my head against the window and took in the lyrics. It talked about how they might be like oil and water. Even if they burned like gasoline and fire, they would have to take the chance anyway. All I knew was that there