2020-05-16 - Third Chance - Pt 2 - Sajani and Patrick

Sajani walks out with him “That’s actually kind of sweet. You didn’t answer my other question before and I won’t push you to talk if you don’t want to…..about the fire at the Rose house…”

Patrick chuckles.  “Well … Nico fancies himself a ladies man.”  He leads her out of the 10 Alarm and starts walking through the Central Park.  He’s quiet for a little while.  “I want to share a secret with you, Sajani.  About my family .. and Jack Rose.”  he licks his lips.  “I just need you to keep it for me.  Please?”  he could give her the watered down version, but … she’s special.

Sajani laughs about Nico being  a ladies man “Well he’s certainly flirty.” She watches him as he gets quiet and then slowly nods “Of course I will. What is it?” Before he can answer she has a terrible feeling...based on what she knew of  Kira and what she suspected about Brayden. If Jack Rose hurt women and men...was Patrick about to tell her he had been raped as well? Before her could even speak she impulsively hugged him and held him tightly for a few minutes.

Patrick returns the hug … extends it maybe longer than is polite.  Then he walks through the park towards the beach, but stops at the park.  He moves towards the swings and sits on one.  It’s not a baby swing, although those are in the park.  His slim hips fit it fine.  Looking at the sand at his feet he blows out a breath and considers what to say.  Many times he just blurts things out, but now he considers his words.  Then he decides to just out with it.  Decided not to mince words.  “Jack Rose raped my sister, Avery.”  he blows out a breath.  “Besides the physical .. stuff …”  he pauses again and swallows audibly.  “He broke her.  That fucker broke my baby sister.  She’s … retreated.  She works at the Farm now .. lives there and she .. she.”  his voice cracks.  “It’s hard for her to talk to our dad .. and me and Chris …”  his voice cracks and a tear falls into the sand.  “Men.”

Sajani sits herself down in the swing beside him but facing the opposite way so she can move her swing towards his and back a bit and they’re face to face. She leans her head into the chain on the side closest to him and listens carefully. She inhales and closes her eyes when he says it all and then takes his hand “I’m so sorry. And I thought you were going to tell me it was you….I know someone he hurt that way as well...maybe two people….” She sighs “Avery is just struggling Patrick. She’ll come around. You guys always seemed like such a close family at school stuff...I know she was homeschooled but if she’s anything like you and Chris….” She lets go of his hand and pulls his swing to hers giving him another hug “I know it hurts.” She has a ton of feelings herself about Jack Rose right now and all the stuff they said on the radio about Kira but now is not the time to get into that. Patrick is in a world of pain and she understands now more than ever why he got drunk and missed their date.

He holds her hand tightly.  “Yea well … with him being dead its a fucking start.”  he growls in uncharacteristic bitterness.  He hugs her tightly and then loosens his grip.  “She’s .. she was .. incredible.  I don’t know if she can ever really recover.”  he sighs.  “But that’s not all, Sajani.”  he blows out a breath.  “Chris has a girlfriend.  Noelle.  Great girl.  He’s been in love with her for a couple of years now, but they’re just now getting together.”  he clears his throat.  “Jack Rose attacked her last week.  Chris was the first on the scene and .. he tried to kill him.”  he swallows again.  “So he breaks my sister .. might lose my twin brother his career.”  he  licks his lips.  “Sajani … when my engine pulled up to that house and I saw that it was on fire … I didn’t want to put it out.  It took Smith giving me a shake … to get me moving.  And then …. Inside … oh god, Sajani … it was like a horror movie.”  he is on a roll not thinking that the police might not want him to talk.  Not thinking Sajani might not be able to handle the details.  “I think Mrs Rose did it.  Killed them.  There were words on the wall.  Jack’s was ‘rapist’.  I’m pretty sure it was written in blood.”  he backs up and buries his face in his hands.  “And then … I was bringing out his body and … Kira … we went to school with her.  We were supposed to graduate together, remember?  She attacked him .. I mean .. he was dead and she started stabbing him like ….”  he freezes again and sobs.  “Jesus … he must have .. oh god … He must have raped her too …  I mean she was stabbing him in the crotch .. oh fuck.”  he stands suddenly and walks a few feet away.  His shoulders shake and his sobs can be heard.  “I didn’t know … I never made the connection.  Her parents said she was sick!”  he nearly screams it and his knees buckle.  He lands on them in the playground sand.  “Jesus, how could I be so blind? I thought maybe she’d had some kind of brain infection … being sick …”  he looks up at the sky.  “Yea .. um … so … I came home after, got drunk and wound up standing you up.”  he clears his throat and turns himself around, sitting on his butt with his knees up.  He rests his wrists on his bent knees.  “Some first date?”

Sajani listens to  most of it with her swing and the side of her body touching Patrick’s. She looks sympathetic when he says he didn't want to put out the fire. She probably wouldn't want to either. She begins to shudder when he starts talking about the inside of the house. The mother killing her child, even that child, was overwhelming to her. She let her swing drift a bit from Patricks and  had to breathe into her fist. She crumpled a bit and teared up when he talked about Kira. Oh god Kira! She knew of course. When Pat stood suddenly her swing spins out and she almost tips off it but steadies herself with her foot, stepping down and standing. She’s shaking a bit but she’s not going to let Patrick feel like she doesn't care. She shares some of this pain, especially about Kira. Sajani sits down on the sand in front of him cross legged and reaches to take one of his hands in hers. “Kira is the person I was talking about…” She chokes up “She really stabbed him? The news had originally said she killed him...maybe them all. But sometimes my father tells me things he’s not supposed to too….so I knew some of this...not the writing in blood.” She looks completely overwhelmed again and a little bit sick. “Patrick I could not do your job….have they offered you any kind of counselling? Not to therapize you…” She uses the word she used on her father earlier. “And I’d rather be here with you now on this first date than at home wondering…..it was a long day...and a  lot of ice cream…” She has to smile a bit at him about that.

Patrick reaches out to her when she begins to look overwhelmed.  “Yea … she did .. but he was dead … his throat … he was really dead, Sajani.”  he smiles at her concern.  “Yea ..  well its standard procedure when there's a bad case like this.  Usually I just talk it over with Chris, but this time I might.”  he smiles when she says she'd rather be with him than home.  “Well you’re as good a therapist as I can hope for.”  the smile becomes a little crooked.  “I probably shouldn't’ see your Dad .. I mean he wanted me to take you out.  Isn’t that a conflict of interest.  Cause if I have to choose, I’ll find some other therapist someplace.”

Sajani has to laugh after having another gravely horrified shudder over the slit throat. “Yeah a bit. He already likes you WAY too much.” She jokes. “But if you did have to see him professionally he can separate professional and personal stuff. I mean he knows pretty much everyone. But there’s a lady therapist, Mary Henry, he can refer people too. I’m here for you, but my area of expertise is about injuries, disease and aging. I do care about you though… a lot..” She slides her thumb across the hand of his that she’s holding in hers and then rubs the top of his knuckles.

Patrick pulls a disbelieving face.  “I’d have to disagree.  He only asked me to take you out.  Or maybe he has more plans than he told me.”  he jokes back, winking.  He looks at  her when she tells him she cares about him.  “And I care about you, too.”  he kisses her hand.  “Maybe you could be my therapist.”  he speculates.  “You’re a therapist, after all.”  he jokes.

Sajani keeps joking “Yes he’s secretly online as we speak, picking out my wedding saree.” She gives Patrick a little playful shove. But when he kisses her hand she  just watches his lips connect and swallows before saying “Occupational therapist...so I can’t help you unless you feel like you’re unable to do your daily tasks or work without my advice or mobility aids.” She thinks for a moment “But maybe the kitten thing….for all the ones you rescue? I can help with that.”

Patrick raises his brows at the mention of a wedding saree.  Then he grins.  “So … surely my inability to get to you on time for a date qualifies as a daily task?  And Chief Stanley will tell you I can’t get to work on time.  Hell I was late for the damn interview.  Clocks of all kinds hate me.”  he confides in her.  “Any time keeping apparatus breaks around me.”  It’s not just self-deprecating … it’s true.

Sajani looks intrigued by the clock thing and feels like she may have made a poor joke choice with the saree comment based on his look. “Chief Stanley must think pretty highly of other parts of your work though? So you can’t wear a watch? What about the clock on your phone...those are internet based aren't they?”

Parick imitates Hank Stanley.  “Son, you’re a damn fine fireman.  You just have to learn to be on time.”  he shrugs.  “He doesn’t mind too much, except those times I wind up running after the engine cause we got a call like at 7:15 and they left without me.” he shakes his head.  “Oh they work fine as long as I don’t set an alarm.”  he pulls out his phone and shakes it.  “I ask for an alarm in 10 minutes, it never goes off in ten minutes.  The best is 14 minutes and the worst has been thirty.  I think the only reason I still have a job is that I proved it to the Chief.  Using my phone, his phone and Dunham’s phone.”  he shrugs.  “I blame my animal magnetism, of course, but I’ve been late from birth to now.  I’ll probably be late to my own wedding.”

Sajani lets go of his hand for a moment and casually moves from cross legged into a sit where her front leg is cross legged and her back leg stretches out behind her. She does this casually as she listens about the phones and clocks and comments on it “Well that is good science, repeating the experiment three times….animal magnetism…” She grins a bit “So I’m guessing being late is just forever for you.” She casually switches legs and does the other side and then it dawns on her she might look odd “Sorry...just my hips right now...been sitting too much today…Pigeon pose is good…”

Patrick blinks when she moves her legs into what seems an impossible pose.  “Um … yea … forever.  I have no love life because I can’t show up on time and women get pissed.  If I show up and they’re still waiting … well I’ve had a lot of drinks thrown in my face.  Only one woman never got mad at me.”  he isn't counting her.  Then she mentions her hips and pigeons and he clears his throat.  “Why don’t we walk then?”  He stands with ease and grace and offers her his hand.

Sajani rolls herself out of the pose and jumps to her feet but takes the hand nonetheless and picks up her purse “Throwing drinks in your face over being late is pretty rude. Can I ask you a possibly personal question though?” She follows up with the question as if the asking was rhetorical “How many girlfriends have you had?” In a way she’s intimidated at the prospect of his experience being so much more than hers...when most people had more than hers.

Patrick offers to keep holding hands as they walk.  “Girlfriends?  Two .. well … “  he stops and considers.  “If you mean like dinner or movies or the beach and hanging out then none, actually.”

Sajani looks truly surprised by this. Patrick was late yes...but Patrick was gorgeous and witty and smart. He was awkward...but it was cute to her. “Ok next personal question then..” She really hesitates now “And I’m not judging you on any of this, just curious….then the other two were..” she pauses again “Sex?”

Patrick walks past the community center, moving slowly cause he isn’t really interested in the end of the evening.  He blushes and nods.  “Yes.  Yvette Teagson.  You probably remember her?  Just the one time.  My first.” he shrugs.  “Then later .. like a lot later.  2016 … there was Regina.  She was only visiting the island and …”  he shrugs.  “When she wanted me she’d find me and we’d go back to her room at the mariners on the Beach and …  have sex.  She taught me a lot about …”  he cuts himself off and finishes.  “Sex … and .. stuff.”

Sajani nods slowly, like she’s assessing it all and then freely admits “Well that’s not as daunting a list as I thought you might have.” She laughs nervously. “I remember Yvette...hmm…” She looks at the trees thoughtfully but neither asks more questions nor volunteers anything about herself.

Patrick laughs a little.  “A list?  Me?”  he places his hand on his chest.  “No … I mean … I don’t do real good in relationships because I can’t be on time to save my life.  And the sex …  I don’t know .. I was a lot younger with both of them and … yes it felt good, but not like my Dad said it should be with someone I loved.”  he shrugs.  Then he looks at her.  “Enough about my love life.  How’s yours?”  he asks with a smile saying no you aren't getting away with not answering in your turn.

Sajani looks put on the spot and like she might not share for a minute or two. She thought it was sweet what he said about his dad and really what his dad had shared as advice. Finally she exhales “I have even less to tell. I mean as you well know in high school my mom’s illness and death really prevented me from dating so I pretty much just didn't.” She takes another deep breath “There was a guy in university...named Dan...it was short...he was short..” She laughs because she can laugh about it now and then then gets serious again “He was actually a roommate of someone you work with...Logan Reinhardt went to UBC for some of the years I did….Dan lived with he and Kurt and a woman named Slade…..there was a dance party in the student centre and Dan I met there. Well I guess you could say dated for a few weeks. I really fell for him hard and fast...slept with him one night and the next morning he left me. He finally came to talk to me and told me he was gay. I was a sort of experiment to see if he liked women or not….a failed experiment…” She smiled sadly “That’s it...that’s my whole everything in one person…”

Patrick is afraid that she isn’t going to answer for a minute, but then she opens up.  “Yea ..  I remember that ….”  and the date that wasn’t.  He listens about Dan.  “Ouch…”  is all he can say about it.  “So I’ve had twice as many lovers as you’ve had.”  he murmurs softly.  He chuckles.  “Guess we can learn together.”  he murmurs softly, the words, like so many, slipping out of his mouth.  He half hopes she didn’t hear it .. and half hopes she did.  Then he seems to be thinking.  “Slade …  Slaine?”  he asks.

Sajani flushes at the twice as many lovers comment and then interjects at the learning together one by walking closer to him and kissing him lightly on the cheek “I like that idea but please be patient with me...I move slower than most…” She blinks as he says the name Slaine “Did I say Slaine…”then she thinks “Oh yeah it is Slaine...but how do you know that or her?”

Patrick leans into the kiss and chuckles again.  “Well, I haven’t had sex in almost four years.  I think I can wait a little longer for someone that means something.  I know I can.”  he nods.  ‘Yea.  Slaine .. something.  Um … she’s … Logan’s brother’s girlfriend?  Owen?  They’re having a baby.”

Sajnai looks touched that she means something and then blinks “This can’t be the same person? She was Logan’s roommate and now she’s Owen’s girlfriend and having a baby with him? Owen’s like 18?” Sajani looks totally confused by all this.

Patrick nods with confirmation.  “Ten years difference in their ages.  Logan says it's complicated but they’re in love …  she has a kid even .. like 4 or 5?”  he shakes his head.  “I mean… I was 19 and Regina was 32 … but it wasn’t love and we were very careful to avoid pregnancy.  And .. she didn’t have any kids.”

Sajani blows out a breath “Wow...my best friend Pixie had a thing for Owen for a while. Asked him out...he said no...I’m assuming because of Slaine. I had no idea the connection.” Sajani tries not to look intimidarted by Patrick talking about his expereinces with an older woman who taught him things about sex. She redirects “Speaking of best friends….Kira actually ended up coming to my house before all the fire stuff….it was odd and sweet. She didn't plan it. I bumped into her outside taking out recycling and garbage….she doesn’t really talk right anymore….or fully. My father calls it selective mutism...”

Patrick laughs.  “And here I thought Owen Reinhardt was as awkward as I am.”  he nods about Kira.  “I’m glad she reached out.”  he bites his lip.  “She’s been a rescue a time or two…”  he admits.  “And I know she’s … had run-ins with Chris and a couple of the other cops in the city.”  he sighs.  “I know she's mute.  I just thought … that brain infection … and she wasn’t really sick?  I know her parents abandoned her which is super fucked up but .. damn.”  he sighs again.

Sajani sighs heavily “Her parents were weirdly religious and clearly horrible people. I can’t even imagine. I mean my mom didn’t choose her illness but I still have my dad and he’s so supportive...how can any parent not be? I could never abandon a kid...especially not one who had been through what Kira has.” Then she thinks about it “Your sister’s not mute is she?”

Patrick looks into the middle distance as they walk.  “No .. Avery isn’t mute .. not as bad as it was.  But her attack last winter.  Kira …  it’s been what .. 6 years since she up and vanished?”  he sighs and again sort of face palms.  “I asked her out, once.”  he tells her and scoffs.  “I was like 20 minutes late … she was leaving as I arrived.  I never tried to ask her out again.  I know that look.  And she started dating Brayden and they were the power couple of the century.”  he remembers.

Sajani nods “I remember. I kinda resented Brayden for a while ....” She breaks off “Patrick...he disappeared for awhile but he didn't go anywhere. And he worked at Thrifty’s in the time Jack Rose worked there….I have a terrible suspicion Brayden was another victim of Jack….”

Patrick stops again just before they get to Sigh.  The word is long and nearly hissed coming out of his mouth.  “Fuck.”  Then he rubs at his temple  “What the hell….  That's two people from our class.  Just ….  Man Sajani.”  They walk past the firehouse which looks to be shut up for the night and up to 3rd.  “How many victims?  How many like Noelle … who got away?”

Sajani shakes her head “I don’t even know. It’s beyond awful.’ She hugs into his arm a bit and shivers. “I should have bought a sweater.”

Parick stops as they cross third street on Central.  Then he puts his arm around her, rubbing her arms in an attempt to warm her.  He looks down at her.  “Better?  We can double time it back to your place.” 

Sajani smiles at him “Better….I can make us a pot of tea….if you want to come in for a cup…?”

Patrick nods.  “I’d love some tea.  Jog or quickmarch?”  he teases.

Sajani groans “I’m a yogi not a runner….fast walk?” She compromises.

Patrick considers.  “My legs are longer and you aren’t a runner.”  he will try and scoop her up in his arms.  “AND I want to stay on your father’s good side, so no colds for you.”  and if allowed he will just run with her in his arms all the way back to her place.

Sajani gasps at the scoop up but lets him and then holds on and giggles all the way “Oh my god Patrick, don’t hurt yourself…” As she’s set down at the door she stands leaning against him and still laughing.

Patrick doesn’t reply about him possibly hurting himself when she first says it.  At the door as she leans against him, he holds her.  “You don’t weigh very much, Sajani.  I’ll carry you anyday.  Piggy back rides.  You name it.”  he looks at the door.  “Now let's get you inside and some tea inside of you.”

Sajani unlocks the door and steps in slipping off her shoes. She walks to the kitchen and washes her hands and then puts on the kettle and opens a cupboard “What kind of tea do you want Patrick?”

Patrick toes off his shoes and follows her.  He leans against the doorframe and grins.  “Surprise me.”  he challenges her.  “I’m a pretty easy guy to please.”

Sajani looks at him against the doorframe and inwardly melts. Patrick got under her skin. She flushes a little at the easy to please comment and then grabs a box of blueberry tea and the teapot. She putters around looking for honey and getting spoons and cups. Finally she hands him the cups and honey and takes the spoons and teapot “Let’s sit on the couch.” She leads him to the cozy colourful living room.  And sets the teapot down on the coffee table. The couch is a bit of a mess as Sajani had been nesting in it and binge watching all day. Self consciously she starts straightening up the cushions and folding her blanket. Then she sees the mint chocolate chip empty still there and reaches for it “Uh oh evidence…” She dashes to the recycling and back and then sits.

Patrick holds the cups and the honey and follows once she heads into the living room.  He grins at her when she finds the empty mint chocolate chip.  “My brothers the cop. Not me.”  Once she comes back and sits, he sits beside her.  “Sajani … about that mint chocolate chip ….  About my
fuck up.  I mean it.”  he looks at her earnestly.  “I’ll make it up to you.  Somehow.  Someway.”  he does look at the now empty space.  “You sure deal with it better than I do.”  he admits.

Sajani looks at him and shakes her head “You don’t need to make anything up….Tonight has been amazing,,,still is.” She sighs “I was being an idiot. I should have assumed you were on that fire shift. And  in doing so I shouldn’t have been so self absorbed that I decided to be clueless and heartbroken about it. Make no mistake I love ice cream but really...I mean really…” She laughs at herself and pours the tea.

He listens to her and nods a little.  But he waits until she is pouring tea to murmur a single word.  “Heartbroken?”  Had it meant that much to her?  As much as it meant to him?

Sajani hears him parrot the word heartbroken in a murmur and  sets the teapot down and looks at him “Yeah I felt pretty heartbroken. In case my many many texts weren’t proof enough for you…” She takes a deep breath and moves towards him and very shyly and lightly kisses his lips.

Patrick is trying to figure out if her comment was snark or genuine when she moves forward and kisses him.  He doesn't move but, indeed, leans forward to deepen the kiss, very slightly.  He knows she mentioned taking this slow, and thinking on this avoids his tongue in her mouth.

Sajanii feels him respond and kisses him back some more sliding her arms around his neck. His mouth feels wonderful and warm and she likes the way he smells.

Patrick feels the arms slide around him.  Slowly he pulls away, parting their lips.  “You’re driving, Sajani.”  he murmurs, nuzzling her ear.  “From now on … your speed.”  he was afraid of pushing her and he wanted to know that he could match any speed she set.  Then he moves his lips back to her, in another sweet chaste kiss.

Sajani smiles at his words and then the next kiss she returns with a bit more passion that he’s cautiously offering. She gently pulls away “Patrick I’m not ready to go to bed with you but I really like kissing...we can,,,do a little more here…” she suggests and then kisses him again passionately.

Patrick understood.  She’d already told him that she wanted to go slow, and ironically his sexual encounters had been anything but.  “Please…”  he whispers between one kiss and the other.  He works to match her passion.  She tastes incredible and he wraps his arms around her.  Not pulling her closer, but not giving her complete freedom to back away.  She’d have to move and he would release her immediately, of course.

Sajani gets a little bolder as his hold tightens and runs her hand up into his hair. It’s soft and she’d been dying to touch it again since she did before. She deepened the kiss a bit and gently pressed his lips apart, sliding her tongue into Patrick’s mouth.

Patrick loves the hand in his head and the presence of a tongue in his mouth.  From his mouth comes a slight moan and he adjusts himself slightly.  Both of his feet are on the floor and his torso turned in her direction.

Sajani feels her body react to his kissing, his smell and then his moan makes her quiver. She suddenly wants way more and it scares her. She pulls away and catches her breath “Sorry..” She  whispers.

Patrick feels her pull away and … apologize.  “What for?”  he asks, a little confused.  She couldn’t be sorry she kissed him, could she.  It had felt incredible.  He had to be missing something.  But that being thought, he was starting to get a bit … too … excited and the break in kissing gives him a chance to … relax.

Sajani sits forward and gets their tea poured and hands Patrick a cup “Maybe I was saying it to myself. Just got a little…” She flushes “Worked up for a sec...” She exhales and then suddenly it looks like something dawns on her “Oh my god I didn’t even ask...how did you like the book?” She takes her own cup and sips.

Patrick takes the cup and sips, which gives him a chance to think.  “Yea ….”  he understood.  Things had not gotten obvious but … and then she brings up the book and for half a second he has no idea what she’s talking about.  Then his eyes widen.  “Ohhhhh  right … the book.”  he sips again.  “It wasn’t bad.”  he holds up his hand.  “I just don’t think … it’s my …”  he toasts her with his tea.  “Cup of tea.  Was … was it written by a feminist?”  he asks, his voice neutral.

Sajani thinks about it “I would say yes because of how gender is depicted, because of how she writes some of the female aliens. I love all the cultures though and the food and drink. All the stuff with Sissex was fascinating. Sometimes I like reading the characters who are the least like me…..” Then she muses “What are your views on feminism? I’m not sure I’d describe myself as a feminist...Pixie is I’m pretty sure...but I’m curious.”

Patrick sips his tea.  “I was raised by a feminist.”  he tells her.  “My mother …  and Chris … are pretty … feminist.  My Dad just goes with the flow, if you know what I mean.”  He drinks a little more tea.  “Do you want my views on feminism, or my views on a woman’s place in home and society?”  he counters, hedging.

Sajani  gives him an almost cheeky look and laughs “Well now I do. Should I have asked these questions before I kissed you? “ She teases.

Patrick actually laughs.  “No, because that kiss was everything I ever dreamed it would be and more and I would have been heartbroken if it never happened.”  he finishes his tea and sits back with a sigh.  “OK …  I think the first wave of feminism was fantastic, and needed.  Not everyone is practicing it, I know, but here in North America … it was needed and I think a welcome change.”  He blows out a breath and finishes his tea.  Then he sets the cup back on the coffee table.  “But in this day and age … it feels to me that most … or at least the most vocal feminists simply hate men.”  he waits, more than half ready to be thrown out in the street.  But at least he fulfilled his fantasy of kissing this woman.

Sajani considers this. She sets down her tea and pushes her hair back, getting that look on her face like she did when she was forming ideas at school debates. “I think there are many different interpretations of feminist philosophy and practice, really in each wave. I mean going back to the first wave historically, yes the votes for women, reproductive rights, workplace equality and rights...all needed. But with an undercurrent of racial exclusion. I mean Indigenous women didn't get the right to vote in Canada until the 1950s or later in some places. So in that way the more recent third wave intersectionality piece, like in the book is inclusive. Now Becky Chambers is also writing an egalitarian utopia as it were….so there’s that.” Once her brain has cooled she smiles about what he said about the kiss.

Patrick remembered that look.  He’d even been on the debate team, but had quit very early on.  He was more a negotiator than debater.  “Racism and feminism are …”  he decided to try and drop that hot potato and cleared his throat.  “She was doing that, but the book wound up being too far in the other direction.”  he folds his hands, because he isn't’ sure what to do with them.  “I do believe that women have the right to vote and have their opinion.  I also believe the world is male dominated, which isn’t necessarily a good thing.  I suppose it depends on the man.  Ghandi and Martin Luther King were both incredible men when it came to peace negotiations, but failed miserably, in my opinion, as husbands.”  he frees a hand and rubs his temple.  “Am I making sense?”

Sajani enjoys the discourse. She liked to unpack ideas and discuss them and she’d never gotten to do that with Patrick before. “You are, and I agree with pretty much all of that.” She looks at him “I really wish we had gotten closer in high school...but I’m glad we’re here now. You’re an interesting person Patrick.” She takes one of his hands in hers and holds it, leaning back on the couch and letting her head rest while she looks at him.

Patrick offers a soft smile.  “I am too…”  he pauses and, he is actually in a mode where he thinks before he speaks, so he doesn’t tell her that if they had gotten closer in high school they might be having this debate in hushed tones so as to not wake their children.  “I am?”  that bit surprised him.  He never thought of himself as interesting.

Sajani squeezes his hand and laughs “Yes you are.” She reaches out her hand to his cowlick again and runs her fingers through his hair.