Page 33 of Too Good to Be True

Whether it was the setting, his sincerity, or something else, she decided to come clean. “Maybe a little.”

He took a step back. “I thought so.”

Unthinkingly, she reached out and put her hand on his arm—his warm, caramel-colored arm that looked sun-kissed.

He glanced down at her hand, and she removed it.

“It’s silly, really.”

“What is?”

She looked down at her shoes, the old sneakers she wore for doing yardwork, and sighed.

“I just don’t understand why you’d want to hang out with me instead of someone…younger.” She looked up to see him smiling.

“You’re not old.”

“Do you even know how old I am?”

“Thirty-two?”

“Higher.”

“Thirty-four.”

“Keep going.”

“Thirty-five.”

“I’m turning thirty-six this year.”

He looked unfazed. “A lot of my friends are older than me.”

What about girlfriends? “Hmm.”

He laughed. “You don’t sound convinced.”

She couldn’t tell him the real reason for her insecurity without revealing the ugly details of her divorce. I wonder if he knows.

“There are a lot of people around your age at the office. I would have thought you’d rather hang out with them.”

“People or women?” he said, looking amused.

She squirmed again. Suddenly this conversation had taken a dangerous turn. “Never mind. It’s really none of my business.”

“Look. I have met people closer to my age, and some of the guys are cool, but…”

“But what?”

“The women, like Britney, for example, seem kind of immature.”

So, he likes a more mature woman. He hasn’t seen me at my goofiest, though.

“I don’t think we’d have much to talk about,” he added.

Talking isn’t what Britney wants to do with you. Just a guess.

“Hmm. Well, I don’t know her very well outside of work.”