Page 79 of Truly, Madly, Deeply

“I saw the rainbow bumper sticker on her car. ‘Puts the A in ally’? You sort of failed to mention your ex-girlfriend is married to your brother. Not that you had to! I know it’s not my business.”

Colin gave a self-effacing laugh. “When your ex dumps you for a guy that has your same face you know it has everything to do with your personality. With who you are. I guess it’s hard not to have a complex about it. I’m over her, I am, but I won’t lie and say it’s not difficult seeing her do all the things with my brother that we talked about doing one day—getting married, starting a family. And Mom and Dad want to sweep the whole thing under the rug. We were together for three years and they act like we never even dated.”

“No offense?” But while they were being one hundred percent, no-holds-barred honest with each other? “Your family sucks.”

“None taken,” he said, lips twitching. “I went no-contact for a while, but then Mom had a cancer scare about a year ago and... there’s a lot of hurt and I know it’s not okay, how they act, blindsiding me, trying to force me to mend fences with Caleb. That wasn’t the first time Mom’s pulled that sort of stunt. My boundaries could admittedly be better.” He smiled ruefully. “It’s something I’m working on with my therapist.”

“That’s good,” she said. “That you know it’s not okay, I mean.”

Colin reached down and plucked her hand off her thigh and brought it to his lips, laying a kiss against her knuckles. “Thanks for sticking up for me in there. You didn’t have to, but it means a lot to me that you did.”

Someone ought to. “Pretty sure your family hates me now.”

“They started it.” His thumb stroked over her palm, sending a shiver through her. He must’ve thought she was cold because he draped an arm around her and drew her snuggly against his side. “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. They don’t like you? Their loss. I do. So. Screw ’em.”

There wasn’t exactly any love lost on her side, either. “If you say so.”

He looked at her, then back at the house, an appraising glint in his eye. “I wonder...”

“Hm? You wonder what?”

“How long do you think it would take them to notice if we left?”

“Leave?” She laughed. “Really?”

“You can’t tell me you seriously want to go back in there.”

Her face must’ve spoken volumes because he stood and grinned down at her, dark eyes glimmering under the light of the moon.

“Come on.” He held out his hand. “Let’s get out of here.”

Chapter Fifteen

“My turn.” Colin dunked a particularly crisp fry into the dregs of Truly’s strawberry milkshake. “Would you rather kiss your ex or your mortal enemy?”

“Hm.” She leaned back against the hood of her car, admittedly too small for two grown adults to sit on comfortably without getting extra cozy. Then again, Truly wasn’t complaining. “What if I don’t have a mortal enemy?”

“Ah come on, everyone’s got a mortal enemy.” Colin turned and reached inside the grease-stained paper bag they’d set on the hood and grabbed out a napkin. “High school rival? Neighbor who constantly steals your favorite parking spot? Twitter nemesis?”

Truly took a swig from the bottle of pinot they’d pilfered from his parents’ kitchen—the bottle she’d brought—and stared out at the lake. “I already kissed my high school rival, my parking spot is assigned, and I stay off Twitter for my own sanity.”

If someone had asked her two months ago who her mortal enemy was, she’d have half-jokingly answered Colin McCrory.

But that was then, and this was now, and he was a lot of things with the potential to be more, but her mortal enemy wasn’t one of them.

“You kissed your high school rival?” He took the bottle of wine from her when she held it out. “I feel like there’s got to be a story there.”

“It was a stupid game of truth or dare freshman year.” She rolled her eyes at the thirteen-year-old memory. “She told everyone I drooled on her, and I got called Drooly Truly for two weeks before everyone moved on to the next equally dumb high school drama. Not much of a story, all things told.”

“I, for one, happen to think you are an excellent kisser.” He pressed his lips against her hairline, and like each time he did, she had to bury the urge to thrash her feet and squeal her excitement up at the stars, the piece of her heart that would always be a teenage girl shrieking he likes me, he really likes me. “Come on. You still have to answer the question.”

She let her hands fall to her sides. The wind was cool against her skin, a gentle breeze blowing across the lake; it had rained earlier in the afternoon and the air smelled like ozone, pungent and sweet. “I don’t have a mortal enemy, and the only person I’ve ever really been in competition with is myself. I don’t want to tongue kiss my personal demons, but I definitely don’t want to kiss my ex, so I’m sort of at a stalemate here.”

Colin took a swig from the bottle. “You were with your ex for six years, right? Any big relationships before that?”

“It’s been a while since I’ve been on a first date, but isn’t discussing exes more of a third date topic?”

His jaw fell and she had to bite back a laugh at the wide-eyed look of shock splashed across his face. “First date?”

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