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I looked to the side to see her staring at the ceiling. “Something like that.” I sat up and offered her a hand, pulling her into a sitting position as well. “Do you want to go?”
“No.”
As basic as a reply could get. One word. Two little letters. It was the first time I’d heard her say no and liked it.
We moved to put our backs to the headboard. I tossed the pillows that were in my way onto the other bed, and she pulled one into her lap.
“How long were you married?” Evie asked.
Ouch. We were diving this deep right away? “No sex means no fun, huh?”
“Apparently.”
“Fifteen incredible years.” My mouth provided the answer before my brain could decide if it was a good idea. “And then I watched him waste away, devoured by the same cancer that killed my mom when I was a kid.” That went downhill fast.
“I’m sorry.”
Me too. “Hey. The hard-on is gone.”
Evie’s laugh was tight. “I think—I’m pretty sure—one of my employees is ripping me off.”
“Oh?” I was surprised she shared that with me.
“Don’t use that against me.”
Did she really think I was that big an asshole?
Fair. I really had been. “I wouldn’t. I promise.”
“Is it fucked up that I want to believe you?” She fiddled with the hem of the pillowcase, folding into zigzags with whatever tension the fabric allowed, then letting go, so it all fell apart.
As long as we were being random about our past and present. “Why did you enlist?” I’d rather she not put the focus back on me.
“GI Bill. Help me pay for college. Isn’t that why everyone does it?”
“The real reason.” I had no idea why the truth mattered, or how I knew that wasn’t it.
“My entire family is military. Grandpa, my parents, my brother… Eddie and I were supposed to both be boys. They weren’t prepared to raise a girl and I wasn’t willing to be a princess. I spent a lot of time proving I was at least as good as my brother at everything. When we turned eighteen, he followed in Mom and Dad’s footsteps and went Navy, and I was going to impress Grandpa, so I enlisted in the Marines.”
That sounded exactly like the Evie I’d seen since I met her. “But you weren’t in for long.” According to the basic notes I had about the hardware store, she’d owned it for almost twenty years.
“Turned out chasing someone else’s dreams wasn’t for me. I did my four years and came home. Why did you lie to me about who you were?”
Back to me. I saw it coming, but I wasn’t prepared. “I don’t know.”
Evie was quiet.
I couldn’t sit here, not moving, just talking. My limbs itched, and I hopped to my feet to pace the short distance of the room.
She was waiting for a different answer. Or had decided the conversation wasn’t worth pursuing. It was impossible to tell from her blank expression and the way she watched me.
“When Tony passed away, I cried so much.” Fuck, what was I doing? “Then I got mad. Furious. The only thought I had for the longest time was how dare he? Since then, I’ve been pushing to get back into my family’s good graces.”
Evie hadn’t asked me for my fucking life story, and I barely vocalized those things to myself. Why was I saying them out loud?
“Win by any means necessary. That’s my motto.” That answered her question in a flippant, brush-it-off kind of way.
Evie was still silent. What else did she want?
