Page 74 of This Could be Love

“No!” I said far too loud and panicky as my cheeks began to burn.

“Is that why you…?” He broke off as if having to think. “Because you thought I…?”

“No!” I made another pathetic attempt to pull my head out of the noose.

“Wow.” He let out a humorless laugh that dug uncomfortably into my stomach. “This has never happened to me.”

I felt like he was mocking me and grew defensive. “What? Someone not wanting to marry you on the spot?”

“More like someone dreaming of getting proposed to.”

“I’m not dreaming of anything. Laurie said…” I didn’t finish, but the damage had been done.

“Laurie? What’s Laurie got to do with anything?”

“Nothing,” I peeped. I bit my lower lip and prayed he’d let me get away with it.

“What did my sister tell you?”

I remained silent.

“Well, I’ll ask her myself.”

“No!”

“Then tell me what’s up!”

I let out a heavy sigh. “She was worried about you.”

“Worried? How so?”

I hesitated. “She said that…that you’d had some tough times. And that she didn’t want someone to…to break your heart.” I held my breath.

“And that someone would be you, I take it.” He snorted. “Why didn’t you tell her that that was bullshit? I mean, we made out a couple of times, but that’s it.”

“You’rethe one who said that that term was too trivial,” I reminded him, regretting it at the same moment.

“Yeah, but what I didn’t say was that making out withyouwas serious.”

I swallowed again. Hard. Collected myself. “You know, you’re really acting like an asshole right now.”

“I’macting like an asshole? Who’s the one talking with my sister behind my back and then ghosting me afterward instead of justtalkingto me?”

“I didn’t ghost you! All I did was distance myself, and that’s my right.”

“Of course it’s your right. But, fuck, man, do it for the right reasons! Not because my sister drops a bunch of bullshit about me.” His voice was shaking. “Do you know how fucking bad I’ve felt over the last few days? How often I’ve asked myself if I went too far?”

“You didn’t go too far,” I responded with a twinge of guilt. I hadn’t once considered that he might connect my distance to whathad happened in his car. And, actually, I hadn’t really given him any reason to. The vibe on the way home had been low-key and relaxed. But, well, yeah, those kinds of impressions could certainly come up over time. Start to work on you. I really was sorry that he’d felt bad.

“ButLauriedid.”

“She was just worried about you. And if it had been up to her, you would never have known.” It was only once the words were out of my mouth that I realized how underhanded they sounded. “I mean…well…” Stammering, I tried to save the situation. “Please don’t be mad at her. She had turned to me in confidence, and I’ve just screwed everything up.”

“Yeah, well, maybe she should’ve turned tomein confidence first.”

“She did. But you went through the roof.”

I didn’t feel good quoting Laurie. At the same time, I felt the strong need to defend her.