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“No, it can’t. And don’t get me wrong, I appreciate them to the moon and back, love them to pieces and will forever be grateful to be their daughter. But even with all their support, I still made a shitty marriage, didn’t I?”
“You thought you were doing the right thing at the time.”
“Yep, exactly. I saw my folks, so happily married and devoted to each other, and I wanted that for myself. So I jumped at the first offer, not realizing that what made their marriage work so well was completely missing from mine.”
“What was that?”
“Passion. My dad loves my mom with every fiber of his being. His whole world revolves around her. Anything she wants, he wants to give her.”
“But not in a bad way.” I heard, loud and clear, the part he didn’t say:like the way it is for my mom and dad.
“No, exactly, not in a bad way. Not to the exclusion of everything else. But I couldn’t get Richard to love me more than his best-laid plans and why are we even talking about me again?”
He chuckled. “Because you’re fascinating.”
“And you don’t want to talk about yourself.”
“Busted.”
“It’s okay. We don’t have to. What are we gonna do for the rest of the day?” He waggled his eyebrows at me, making me blush and giggle like a schoolgirl. “We can’t do thatallday.”
“Wanna bet? Seriously, the weather’s pretty shitty.” He gestured out the window at the rain still battering the pavement. “There aren’t too many options.”
I hesitated, then thought it was worth a try. “Maybe we could take a wander around Westlake Center Mall? I want to start thinking about Christmas presents and window shopping helps me get ideas. It’s not too far.”
“Sure, if you like.”
Whoa. Richard hated shopping without a plan. He needed to have a bullet-point list and a map of the shopping center or the deal was off. “Great.” I put my hand up to ask the server for the check.
“Nope.” Dante raised his hand and pulled my wrist down, catching her eye before I could.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting the check.”
“You paid for dinner last night and I’m staying at your hotel. I can cover breakfast.”
“No way. When you’re with me, I look after you. End of story.” He said it a little fiercely, which did all sorts of things to my insides.
“Oh. Well. Okay. Thank you.”
While Dante took care of the check, I wondered when the endless comparisons in my mind to Richard would stop. Because Richard had always insisted on fifty/fifty, right down to the penny, even when he was earning twice as much as me before I’d started my consulting business.
Helping me into my coat, Dante dropped a kiss on my nose, then took my hand and linked his fingers through mine as we walked to the door. Another thing Richard never did. He hated public displays of affection.
Well, at least if I was going to make these constant comparisons to my ex, they all kept falling resoundingly in Dante’s favor.
* * *
We took a cab to Westlake Center and dashed inside, with Dante holding me close against him putting his jacket over my head to protect me from the rain. After that, he just followed me around, with more patience than anyone I’d ever shopped with. I was a painfully methodical shopper, and I knew it, but I liked to be meticulous about it.
“What are you doing?” he asked me when we were standing in a toy shop.
“Hmm?”
“With that.” He gestured to my phone, which I was using to scan the bar codes of various Pokémon toys on the shelf.
“Oh, I’ve got a gift app, so I can keep track of all the presents I buy. That way I don’t repeat past gifts or go over my budget.”
