"Are you always this optimistic?"

"No. Sometimes I have to fake optimism until the real stuff kicks in." She shakes her head, shrugs. "That's everyone, though, isn't it?"

"No." I've never felt like more of an ogre than I do in front of this ray of sunshine. Yet I only want to move closer and bask in the warmth. Instead, I grip the edge of the kitchen island to keep myself stationary. Lest she know she's getting to me. That the soft way she shares herself, her unclouded philosophies, is ...