Page 80 of Truly, Madly, Deeply

“You like me, I like you, we’ve got food and a pretty spectacular view.” She shrugged. “Like I said, it’s been a while for me, but I’m pretty sure we’ve got all the trappings of a date.”

A slow smile spread across his face, bringing out the dimples in his cheeks and the creases at the corners of his eyes. “If that’s your definition of a date, I’d argue this is our third.”

“Are you seriously trying to—what, negotiate up our date count?” She laughed. “Wow, I really am on a date with a lawyer.”

He set the bottle of wine on the roof and rolled onto his side the best he could on the hood of her tiny car, looming over her. Backlit by the canopy of stars in the sky, Colin’s moles reminded her more of constellations than ever.

He raised his left hand and started ticking off these supposed dates on his fingers, beginning with his thumb. “We had coffee together.”

“You mean the day we ran into each other? You’re counting a total coincidence as a date?”

“I liked you then, you liked me, we had food and a view. Ergo, according to your definition, a date.”

“We were sitting inside a coffee shop. There was no view.”

“Sure there was.” He grinned and she already knew what was coming. “I was looking at you.”

Just because she was expecting the line, didn’t lessen its impact. An answering smile took over her face, cheeks warming pleasantly. “Fine. I’ll give you that one. What was our second date?”

“Saturday, obviously. The bar on Lenora.”

Truly called foul. “That was not a date. Your sister was there.”

“People used to go on dates with chaperones all the time.”

Laughter sputtered from her. “A chaperone? Oh my God, I can’t wait to see the look on Caitlin’s face when I tell her that according to you, she chaperoned our second date.”

“Considering she ditched us, she wasn’t very good at it.”

“Agreed. You did sort of ravish me against my front door that night.”

A breathless laugh escaped his wine-stained lips. “Ravish? Wow, I really am on a date with a romance author. A third date at that.”

“Oh my God, fine. You win. Third date.”

Colin raised a fist in the air.

“Dork.” She rolled her eyes fondly. “To answer your original question, considering I was twenty-one when I met Justin, not really. I had a boyfriend in high school, but we split up after graduation. It was amicable. He lives in New Mexico with his wife and their daughter, who just turned three. We send each other Christmas cards.”

“That sounds nice.” He squeezed her fingers. “I’m not in touch with any of my exes—aside from Ali and that’s not as much my choice as it is a begrudging desire to keep some semblance of peace.”

“Someone wise once told me peace isn’t the absence of conflict. It’s about being able to have disagreements without being contemptuous or defensive and I’m pretty sure that requires both parties be on board.”

“Someone wise, huh?” He smirked. “Tell me more about this wise somebody. Is he cute? How’s his ass? Come on, St. James. Curious minds want to know.”

“He’s all right,” she teased, reaching over to pinch the soft skin of his arm. “Kind of cocky but sweet. He gives great head and makes a mean grilled cheese. Can’t complain.”

Colin grinned up at the sky, looking adorably pleased by the praise. “Any chance I could get that in writing or—”

She poked him in the stomach, muscle unyielding. “Was Ali your first serious relationship? Can I ask, or is that not—”

“You can ask.” He draped an arm around her, dragging her close. “I dated around in my twenties, but either I wasn’t looking for something serious at the time or they weren’t, so all those relationships fizzled out pretty fast. And then I met Ali and I thought she was—she was it, you know? On paper, we wanted the same things. Marriage, kids... and she had all these plans. She was in an LPN to RN program when we met, talked about wanting to become a CNP one day, maybe a pediatric nurse. She talked about all these hopes and dreams and then about a year after we’d been dating, out of nowhere she dropped out of her nursing program and it—that was fine. I didn’t care, I just... I wanted her to be happy, you know?”

Truly nodded.

“Only, it wasn’t what I’d call reciprocal.” He leaned back, pillowing his head against a folded arm. “We’d have dinner with my folks and Dad would start in on me and my job, just like he did tonight, and I used to take the bait. We’d have these—these all-out screaming matches. Dad would just tear into me, belittling all my choices. I’d yell, Mom would cry into her fucking napkin, and Ali... Ali would just sit there picking at her food, acting totally unfazed by it all. She’d sit there, perfectly polite, and later we’d leave and in the car I—I needed someone on my side. Someone to tell me my dad was wrong. That I wasn’t a total fuckup for wanting to carve out my own path and follow my own dreams. And Ali, she’d play fucking devil’s advocate. Your parents just care about you, Colin. Is it really so bad that your dad’s proud of his business?” He scoffed. “It’s funny. My parents loved—love—Ali. Dating her was probably the only thing I did that my parents were actually happy with.”

“For whatever it’s worth, I don’t think you’re a fuckup, Colin. You’re far from it.”

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