Page 17 of The Summer House

“I can’t believe we did that,” she said, before she could stop herself.

Rick smiled. “I’ll agree with you on that.”

“But you don’t seem upset.”

“Are you?”

“No. Not upset.” But definitely something, she thought, feeling contented but very confused.

He touched her face, then rested his hand on her upper arm. “I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation,” he said.

“Which is?”

He gave a shrug. “Lots of things. We have a past, we haven’t seen each other in a long time. There are old emotions and new discoveries. That sort of thing.”

“Uh-huh. This is where I inform you that I’ve met other people from my past and have managed to get through entire evenings without once thinking about making love with them.”

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “We didn’t just think about it.”

“I got that.”

“Face it, Mandy, you’re an amazing woman. I can’t remember ever being swept away by passion like that, but it was great.”

“For me, too,” she admitted. “I just feel weird about it. We were married. We got a divorce. After eight years we fell into bed together. Doesn’t that strike you as strange?”

“A little.” He shifted and shoved a couple of pillows against the headboard, then sat up. “Okay, a lot strange. Apparently there’s still something between us.”

“How is that possible? It’s been a long time.” She sat up and sat cross-legged, facing him, with the sheet carefully pulled up to cover her breasts…not to mention the rest of her.

“Things didn’t end well,” he reminded her. “Maybe this is about working through that.”

She might not have a Ph.D. in some scientific field, but even she could figure out that the fact they’d ended their marriage badly didn’t explain having sex now.

“Try another one.”

“Don’t dismiss the idea,” he said. “We fought, we disappeared from each other’s lives. Maybe we should talk about what went wrong in our marriage.”

“Now?” Was he serious? “We’re both naked.”

“So we can flash each other as a distraction if things get uncomfortable.”

Mandy couldn’t help laughing. “You’re crazy,” she said, wondering when Rick had changed so much. When they’d been married, talking about anything remotely touchy-feely had sent him screaming out of the room. Now he was suggesting it.

“Probably,” he agreed with far too much cheer. “I’ll even start.”

He adjusted one of the pillows and frowned slightly. She waited, more than willing for him to go first.

“Okay. I was emotionally immature,” he said. “You weren’t my first lover, but you were my first girlfriend.”

She stared at him. “What? You never told me that before.”

“I was twenty-two. It wasn’t something I liked to brag about.”

“But…how is that possible?”

“Mandy, I was a total nerd. I didn’t know how to talk to girls. I hadn’t stopped growing and I was still tripping over my own feet.” He shrugged again. “Which is off the point. I wanted to play house rather than have a mature relationship. I was more into sex being available than worrying about your needs. I wanted a mistress and a housekeeper to fulfill my vague fantasies of what marriage should be like. I was young and dumb and I’m sorry.”

His ease of conversation didn’t dilute his sincerity. She hadn’t expected them to discuss their marriage at all, but if she had, she would never have thought Rick would be so willing to take responsibility for his part in things. She knew then that she couldn’t do any less.

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