Page 23 of Amadeo
“Faithful and loyal?” He looked a bit stunned by this accusation. “How do you know?”
“I just do.” I shrugged and looked away from him.
“How can you say I wouldn't be faithful? That’s not fair,” he countered.
“Oh, it is.”
“Look, just because someone…” he paused to ask, “Did someone cheat on you?”
At this summation, I scoffed. “I would never give them the chance to.”
“So then how can you say for sure that I—”
“Because you would, that's all!” I cut him off.
“Wow, you realize what you will be missing out on in life? If you refuse to trust anyone?”
“Oh, I trust people, just not a man.”
He laughed though it didn’t sound amused. “Just men, eh? Well, I’ve seen plenty of women who cheated.” I shrugged. “Not on me, but men I’ve known.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and asked, “So, you are telling me that you never cheated on someone then dumped them?”
He blinked hard at the description I used. “No, I have never done either one of those things. In fact, I have only dated casually. I’ve never been close to anything serious.”
I stood from the bench to look down at him. “You at least seemed honest up until now.”
Amadeo stood too and stared at me. “What the hell are you talking about? Why would I lie about that?”
“Yes, why would you? If you did that to a girl, why would you admit it to me?”
“Okkkk.” He raised his hands up. “You have lost me completely. I have never been in a serious relationship. Never got engaged, never fell in love. Then I find a woman that I think I would like to experience all of those things with and she hates me beyond reason?”
I stopped to stare at him and said, “Oh, I could never, EVER date you.” Turning away, I rushed down the garden path.
Chapter Nine:More Than Once
Amadeo
The fuck? No, we weren’t going to leave it at that. Hell no. I went after her.
I caught her just as she got to the French doors. “Gia! Will you stop?”
She had her hand on the door handle. Pausing, she turned to look at me.
I stared at her and asked, “Can you just tell me what I did wrong?”
Staring back at me, she shook her head.
“Do you think that’s fair?” I added. “To just say I am not trustworthy. Without even telling me why you believe this?”
“I know that you seem to be that…Trustworthy I mean. But I just can’t…”
I leaned in close and said, “I have a right to defend myself, Gia. Tell me what it is that you think I did?”
“It’s in the past. We cannot change it.”
I shook my head. “It’s a past I have no awareness of and it obviously matters to you. You keep hinting at something you think I have done. And you won’t give me a chance because of some event I don’t even know about. You need to tell me.”
