Page 264 of Come Back to Me

“I’m a contrary motherfucker.”

“You know, I’m glad I didn’t have to diagnose that. Self-awareness is so important for your journey.”

I roll my eyes. “Didn’t need to lay down three Robert Bordens to work that one out, Mike.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know.”

“The answer is… talk to her.”

“When isn’t that the answer with you?”

“I know. I get bored of saying it as much as you get bored of hearing it. Ergo, let’s not waste oxygen, which is a limited resource, and you just say, ‘Yes, Mike, I’ll talk to the woman who I want to marry one day, preferably tomorrow.’”

“She’s a pain in the ass.” I grin. “Conversations with her end up in bed.”

“What you get up to on a mattress is between you and the sheets.”

That has me cackling. “Dirty bastard.”

“That’s what she said.”

Grin widening, I shake my head. “She likes orgasms.”

“Who doesn’t?”

“She prefers them to arguments. Which, now that I think about it, makes me a rare commodity. She’s always bickering with her best friends. I think she bickers with herself, to be honest. I walked into her bedroom yesterday and she was arguing with her English horn.”

“Madness and genius share a border.”

“I’m going to talk to her.”

“Good thinking.”

“Maybe not today.”

“Why not?”

“Full house. Lots going on. Callan’s organizing the ceremony and he’s demanding perfection. Not exactly conducive to romance.”

“Listen. This situation with her mother…”

“What about it?”

“Sometimes, the person we don’t want to know about something is really the person we wish knew but we’re too cautious and, often enough, too vulnerable to come out with the truth.”

“That’s kinda wise.”

“I know. I’m a regular Yoda.”

“She says her parents are obsessed with her being normal.”

“Being normal’s overrated.”

“Not in her household. You think I should go behind her back and tell her mom the situation?”

“No. I think you should suggest that you tell her mom together. And, if and when her mother gets overly excited about the future, you calm it down and let her know how it’s going to go. You do know how it’s going to go, right?”

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