“Well, thank you. I’m flattered,” he says when he catches his breath again. “I do my best. But youknow, there are more of us out there than you think.”
I shake my head. “Not from what I’ve seen.”
“No, no, I’m serious,” he insists. “Not everyone looks the same, though. Some people’s kindnesstakes a while to shine through. But if you give them the benefit of the doubt, they might just surpriseyou.”
I raise my eyebrows. He chuckles again.
“s**t, I sound like a Sunday school commercial.”
I smile. “Not at all. You just sound like a man with faith.”
“Sometimes, that’s all you have to cling to,” he tells me. “Faith.”
“I’ll try and remember that.”
He nods. “You do that,” he says, getting to his feet. “It was nice to meet you, Charlotte.”
Then he walks off t
