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He knows enough he convinced me.
“It’s lovely to see you, Ms. Huntington.” He nods goodbye to Lexi. Then, when she leaves and we’re alone, he looks to me. “And you, too, Ms. Huntington.”
There’s joy in his dark eyes. Joy and mischief.
“I believe we made a deal,” he says.
“A few.”
He smiles. “You held up your end of the bargain on some. But not others. No. There’s one major issue in the air.” He taps something, the button for advancing the slide.
And it appears on the screen:
Wager:Is love solely a chemical reaction in the brain or is there more to it? Is there a certain magic? A self-sacrifice?
River’s stance:Magic, everywhere
Deanna’s stance:All logic
Terms:if River wins, Deanna allows him to pursue Lexi. If Deanna wins, River backs off. Of course, at the moment, Lexi is happy with Jake, so the original terms are moot. But there is a second portion.
The other terms:if I lose, you get my right arm. If I win, I get your left.
He taps the button and the screen advances to the next slide, a screenshot of our text.
“I believe you’re familiar with this negotiation?” he asks.
“I am,” I say.
“Do you debate the situation?” He looks me in the eyes.
I can see he’s hurt. I won’t argue with that. But calling it heartbreak? I’m not sure that’s fair. “I ended things because they made sense.”
“You deny my feelings?”
“We’ve only been dating a few weeks,” I say.
He changes tack. “It didn’t hurt you, ending things?”
“It hurt me, yes. But you let me.”
“We agreed to the honor system, didn’t we?”
“Yes,” I admit.
“I asked if you have feelings. Did you lie?”
“Maybe a little,” I admit.
“I should have argued more. Forced you to admit the full extent. But a part of me knew you weren’t ready. And I wasn’t ready. Not yet. I needed to think. I needed to look at the logic myself.” River’s eyes bore into mine. “You were right. There was logic I needed to see. But I was right, too.”
“You were?”
“You lied about your feelings. Why?” he asks. “If there’s only logic, why lie?”
“I didn’t know how else to convince you.”
“But that’s not the only reason, is it.” His eyes meet mine. “There’s more.”
