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I laughed softly, enjoying how easy it was to make him blush. The tough hockey player had such an adorably bashful side. I wanted to discover every facet of his personality. Maybe once I knew all of that, it’d be time for the three words.

“Hey, guys, sorry to interrupt.” Alex, Maplewood’s photographer and social media coordinator, appeared at our table.

“Morning, Alex,” I said.

“Hey, thanks for all those great shots of the game yesterday,” Ethan said. “They were stunning. We’d love to get copies of some for the camp website and the players are all interested in copies.”

“Of course. Just let me know what you need. I’ve got more too. I shot a lot.” He pulled his phone out and swiped. “Let me send you the link where you can see them. You can share that with anyone that wants to download anything. If they use them, it’d be great if they could credit me.”

In a moment, Ethan’s phone buzzed and he flipped it over to look at the screen. “Cool. Thanks. I’ll pass that along.”

Turning to me, Alex said, “Since I caught you, I wanted to ask. Do you think we can D&D the second week of July?”

Checking my calendar quickly, I nodded. “Any evening that week looks good.”

“Great. Three down, two to go. I’ll confirm with you as soon as it’s locked in. I’ll let you get back to your breakfast. Happy Pride!” Alex claimed a seat at the counter.

Ethan looked at me quizzically. “D&D? As in Dungeons and Dragons?”

“Yeah. A bunch of us have played together for more than a year now. We try to get together at least once a month.”

He washed down a bit of his English muffin. “I would’ve never guessed you as a gamer.”

“I got into it when I was working in Austin. There was a group who played at the library, and the storytelling aspect sucked me in.” I pulled up the photos on my phone and found the illustration Olivia had made of my character looking resplendent in deep purple robes with golden runes glowing across the front and his spell book floating open in front of him. “Meet Baldwin Scriptoris. His friends call him Script. He’s a badass Tiefling Wizard.”

Ethan looked like I’d spoken a foreign language as he looked between the picture and me.

“You’re purple. And have horns. And a tail.”

“Like I said, I’m a Tiefling. Horns and tails are common.”

“And yet this looks just like you in the face, with that thoughtful look as you read the book.” He continued to study Olivia’s drawing.

“You can come watch us play.”

“People do that?”

“Sometimes, yeah.”

“I would love to see this side of you in action.”

I hadn’t expected that to excite me, but it did. D&D wasn’t for everyone, especially to watch, so that he wanted to check it out was meaningful.

My phone buzzed in Ethan’s hand, but he didn’t give it to me when I reached out.

“Okay, even though it’s parade day, you’re going to take a brief break.”

He swiped on the phone’s screen.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

He smirked as he talked into the phone. “Hi, awesome parade volunteers. This is Ethan. Andre’s going to take a quick break from responding so he can finish his breakfast before it gets totally cold. I promise he’ll be back in a few minutes.” He tapped once more before setting the phone next to him and covering it with his hand.

I shook my head, running my hand over it at the same time. “I can’t believe you did that. But thank you.”

“Sometimes you have to save someone from themselves.” He continued eating, keeping his left hand firmly on my phone as it vibrated.

We ate, trading occasional smiles. Only after I’d finished the last bite did he release the phone. When he handed it back, I placed it face down.