Page 16 of Lovesick
“I’m not surprised you think so. It’s a little too traditional for most people these days. But it’s ... I choose to believe in this. I choose to believe that love and romance are real. One day I could be proven wrong, but I don’t think so.”
“Do you go full traditional?” I asked. “Barefoot and pregnant? White picket fence? Babies on babies?”
“Yes. Do you?”
The thought of marriage and babies used to make my throat close. Inhibition of my freedom? No thanks. Lately, it didn’t seem so bad. Maybe it was age. Life experience. Maybe desperation. Her comment didn’t frighten me the way it would have five years ago.
But it sure didn’t feel comfortable now.
I shuffled the tiles around the bag. “Ah ... not sure on that.”
She made a sound in her throat, then motioned to my tiles. “It’s your turn.”
I set down another pathetic word—S-C-A-R-E-D.My palms started to sweat. Stacey had worked a real number on me eight years ago. Since she’d crushed my heart, I hadn’t tried again. Sometimes I felt pathetic, like she’d won. She’d been a post-college love affair. My feelings for her had spiraled deep and fast. I’d thrown almost everything away to be with her, thinking it had been real.
My throat thickened in the few moments it took Lizbeth to consider her tiles and lay down another word.H-E-A-R-T.
With a mental whip, I forced myself back to focus. Lizbeth rearranged her new tiles. She hummed so softly that I wondered if she even realized she was doing it.
“Why?”
The word came out of me as a croak.
Her lips twitched, but she didn’t smile. “Why have such loyalty to romance?” she asked.
“I mean ... it’s a concept.”
Why did my voice sound so defensive?
“Like love?” she countered.
“I have no idea.”
She held two fingers apart from each other. “Romance and love aren’t the same thing. Romance is what paves the way for love. It aligns the situation so love happens.” She brought the fingers together. “When love and romance are paired? I believe anything can happen. Romance is ... proof that you do love. That you know that person deeply enough you’lldosomething to show it. Romance must come first.”
“Romance meaning chocolates and flowers and...”
My mind went blank.
She shrugged. “Maybe.”
“What’syourdefinition of romance?”
Her hands paused over her tiles as I arrangedC-U-S-Pon the board. She licked her lips and let out a long breath.
“That,” she murmured, “is a very personal question indeed.”
My desire to know her answer unnerved me. I let it ebb away. The very act of withholding the information only made me want it more, but I didn’t think Lizbeth insincere enough to do that on purpose.
We didn’t say another word for a long time, and in the silence, I finally found my breath again.
Lizbeth won.
7
Lizbeth
The day unfurled in a whirl of games, laughter, and reading from the safety of their couch in front of the fire. At noon I called Maverick and told him the sordid details of what had happened, but only after I secured his agreement not to tell Bethany yet. With every word, I felt a little better. More firmly rooted in reality.
