"I can't speak for anyone else, but I know for me it is imperative to do everything I can to get positive attention from a lady before she actually gets to know me and that becomes impossible." He smiled at her. He was joking.
When they got to the memorials, Bobby got quiet for a moment. He didn't spend a lot of time there, but they still had a pretty strong effect on him. When he felt like things were unwinding, it was a place he would go to center himself. She must have felt a need o visit there, and he thought that was understandable.
"I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't hurt, or wasn't angry. I was a lot younger, and I've mellowed some in the way I react to things, and I've had a long time to get some perspective. I wish you hadn't gone like that. I wish you had stayed. I wish we had stayed together, I mean I wish we had more of a chance then. I'm not an easy guy to be with all the time. I'm not saying it would have lasted, but I wish we had more of a chance." He reached up and touched her cheek with his hand.
"Really, I'm just glad you're here. I'm not mad, not upset, not really even looking back in that direction. If I was, you'd know it. I'm not real good at ... obscuring my emotions, you know. I won't blame you for how you felt years ago. If you want me to be hurt and pissed off, you're just going to have to find some new way to do it." He couldn't hide his grin at the last part of what he said.