“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. He met all those women after he knew you,” Rowan said. “So, if there’s a type, you started it for him.”
I never thought about it, but he did have a good point. “Fine. That’s?—”
“Good for you,” Rowan finished. “It means he has been picking a version of you subconsciously.”
I slouched back into my seat.
“Why aren’t you happier about this?” Rowan’s eyes searched mine.
“I’m happy about it,” I said weakly. “It’s great news.” I turned on the golf cart, pulled out of the parking lot, and headed toward Demeter House.
“Have you thought about what comes after?”
“After what?” I peeked at Rowan out of the corner of my eye.
“After the wedding breaks up and you get together. What’s next? Will you go into business with him? Get married?”
I couldn’t help the shudder at the word “married.”
“Don’t you want to marry the love of your life?” Rowan asked.
“Sure. Who wouldn’t?” I kept my eyes on the road, but my mind raced. I hadn’t given it that much thought. I’d been so obsessed with finding a way to stop him from marrying True that I didn’t think about the day after. Or the week after.
“You don’t want to get married? I thought all women dreamed about their big day.”
I raised a shoulder. “I guess I’m not like other women.” I snickered. “I briefly considered what I’d want if I had a wedding, and it’s not a wedding dress that cost ten grand.”
“True’s dress was more like fifty,” Rowan said.
I slammed on the brakes of the cart, and Rowan put up his hands to stop from going through the windshield. “Oops. Sorry.”
“I see you learned to drive from your dad,” Rowan quipped.
“Ah, you’ve already taken a ride with him in The Bolt.”
Rowan grinned at me. “I have.”
That grin and the thought of him riding around Pleasure Point with my dad warmed my heart for reasons I wasn’t ready to explore. I steered the cart back along Eros Street toward town. We rode in silence underneath the tree canopy until I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Do you ever want to get married?” I asked.
“I did get married,” he sighed. “Turns out she was the wrong woman. She left me.”
“Did she have a tumor? An aneurysm? Why would she leave you?”
“She didn’t have a tumor. I did,” Rowan answered quietly.
“Damn.” I swallowed. “Are you okay?”
“I am now, but wasn’t at the time.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Rowan assessed me from the passenger seat, and I nervously smiled at him. He pulled one of my hands toward his lips and kissed my fingers. “I do want to talk to you about it, but not right now. We’re about there, yeah?”
We had reached Amour Avenue, which marked the boundary of the downtown area. I nodded and steered us toward Venus Avenue, which would take us to Demeter. Golf carts packed all available parking spots, and rain splashes began to pelt the windshield. I stopped the cart and leaned over the wheel to look at the sky.
“Shit.”
