Page 57 of Opposites (Never) Attract
“Right,” she said. “Force of habit.”
“Telling people what to do?” I asked, with a smile.
“No, thinking…” she shook her head. “That I am invisible in this town, you know?”
I snorted. “The Calloway Sisters are far from invisible.”
“Did you…” she stopped. Bit her lip.
“Did I what?”
“Ever date one of my sisters? I mean, it’s a small town and they’re beautiful. I imagine Harmony would have toldme if she’d ever dated you, but Amity and Bliss and I are practically strangers.”
I immediately pulled the truck over to the side of the road and turned to look at her.
“You seriously think I would have dated one of your sisters, then messed around with you without telling you first?”
She squirmed and wouldn’t look me in the eye. “You said it yourself. It’s a small town. It’s not like there are a whole lot of options for…female companionship.”
“Female companionship?” I squawked. “You think I fuck prostitutes?”
“No. Wait. Are you calling my sisters prostitutes?” she shrieked.
“No,” I shouted back. “Of course not. I also never fucked them. I don’t just fuck women for the sake of fucking.”
“I know that! You dated Jenny Masters for two solid years back in high school.”
I smiled fondly, remembering my old girlfriend who’d moved to California to raise bees and babies. “I liked Jenny. And I did fuck her. A lot. But I have had relationships since then.”
“See? It’s not out of the blue that I would think you’d date one of my sisters.”
“No. It’s out of the blue that you think I wouldn’t tell you. I know it would make you uncomfortable and you’d deserve to know.”
The wind went out of her sails and it was a pleasure to see.
“That’s…nice, I guess.”
“I’m a nice guy.”
“You are,” she laughed. “How come you’re not married?”
I put the car in drive and pulled off the side of the road. “Not interested.”
“As in, you haven’t been interested in a woman enough to marry her, or you’re not interested in marriage at all?”
I shrugged and studied the road that I knew by heart.
“Not a lot of women are like, ‘sign me up’, for this kind of life. And the ones that think they are end up leaving.”
“That can’t be true,” she said. “Not every woman leaves.”
“The important ones do.”
“Are you talking about…your mom?” she said, softly.
I bristled. Yeah, I wasn’t totally oblivious to the fact that my failure to commit long term to someone might have something to do with my mom’s abandonment. But I didn’t want to go there. Denial was my friend and there wasn’t a practicing therapist in the Gulch.
“Guess we both have family drama,” she said, with a sigh.
