“Big?”
She scoffs. “That’s an understatement.”
“Mansion?”
“Pretty much. In Lakeview.”
Oh. Wow. Lakeview is expeeeeensive.
“On West Surf Street.”
“Wowza.”
“Yeah.” Robin nods. “But the truth is, they were exactly as I’d expect Gus’s folks to be. Nice. They love their son like he hangs the moon.”
I never understood that expression, but I get the sentiment. “And you said they like you too?”
She shrugs. “They seem to.”
“So, what’s the deal?”
Turning to face me, her gaze is the most serious I think I’ve ever seen. “The deal is, I love the stupid jerk.”
I know she does. “And?”
“And I’m not sure he loves me back.”
“Of course he does.”
She shakes me off. “I’ve told him on three different occasions exactly that. And do you know what he says in return?”
I’m afraid to ask so I shake my head.
“Thank you.”
“He says ‘thank you’?”
“Yep.”
“Maybe he’s just not demonstrative that way.” Some guys aren’t.
“He tells his mom and dad he loves them fifty times a day.” She rolls her eyes. “Sure, I’m exaggerating, but he does. He tells them every time they talk on the telephone, when we get to their house for brunch, and when we leave.”
“Well, that’s a different kind of love. It’s easier to say that than it is to the woman you want to spend—”
She holds up her hand to stop me. “Don’t finish that sentence. It’s humiliating enough that I’ve told him repeatedly how I feel but get nothing but ‘thank you’”—she says those two words in a very deep voice—“in response.”
“Hon.” I reach out and take her hand in mine. “It’s obvious, to me, that the man is head over heels in love with you.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I can tell.”
Robin rolls her eyes dramatically. “Yeah, like you’d know.”
And that right there felt like a dagger into my heart. “I know what love is.” Great. Now I sound like Forrest Gump. It’s true, though, I do know what love is.
“Oh. Shit.” She looks over at me and no doubt sees the tears that are on the precipice of falling. “I know you do, baby girl. I’m just irritable about Gussy. You’re full of love, and you’d recognize it if you saw it in someone else. Like you probably see in Nate.”
