Page 86 of Caper Crush
“That you never argued with your college girlfriend?”
“What did you and Saanvi discuss?”
“That you didn’t argue with your girlfriend in college.” The ice pack on top of my swollen foot dulls the pain.
“What brought that up?” William sits in the armchair.
Hmm … maybe this wasn’t the most subtle approach.
“She thought we were dating because you carried me in, and I told her we are not dating, and somehow she mentioned that you never argued with your college girlfriend.”
William says, “Well, we both know that you argue with your boyfriends.”
“Maybe I only argued with Rex.”
“You didn’t argue with your other boyfriends?” he asks skeptically.
“I argued with Peter too, but it was different,” I say. “We mostly withdrew from each other.”
“That’s more similar to me and Itsuki,” he says.
“And you haven’t stayed friends with Itsuki?”
“No. I hear about her through friends, though. And I saw her briefly at our last college reunion. We dated for all of college. I thought we’d get married.”
There’s silence.
“Are you still in love with her?”
“No.”
I feel like I let out a deep breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. He looks down at the floor.
“I remember when I first realized Peter was in love with someone else,” I say. “We’d broken up, and he’d moved to California. I was coming out to visit, and I guess I thought there was still a chance we might get back together. But then he started talking about this other woman, and I just knew, from the inflection in his voice, that he really liked her.”
“Did you still go to California?”
“I did, but at least I knew that we were just going to hang out as friends.”
“Did he marry her?”
“No, they broke up eventually.” I reach around for my crutch and move my leg off the pillow.
“Where are you going?”
“I have to go to the bathroom.”
“I’ll help you.”
I shoot him a mortified look.
“Not in the bathroom,” he adds quickly. “To the bathroom.”
“Oh, okay.”
I lean on William to hop to the bathroom door. He opens the door and starts to bring me inside.
“I think I can take it from here,” I say.
