I nodded.
“She’s safe with him,” he promised. “I wouldn’t let her get hurt, even if it meant taking on a Rusted Blade. I know she’s important to you.”
“Well, thank you, but that’s not what I was thinking about,” I said.
“I see. Care to share?”
“No.”
“Are youcrosswith me?” he asked.
“Cross?” I huffed. “Why would I be cross with you?”
“Ah, so then yes,” he said. He sighed. “What did I do and how do I apologize?”
“You can start by not assuming my feelings, Mr. Evergreen.”
“I don't have toassumeanything,” he said. He worked on leveling our blanket. “That’s why I like women like you.”
“Oh, you likewomenlike me? Do you?”
“Yes. I do. They’re direct. Directness eliminates misinterpretation. That said, if you ask a direct woman ‘Are you cross with me,’ and she replies with anything other than ‘No,’ like say, ‘Cross? Why would I be cross with you,’ she is, in fact, quite cross with you.”
“Stop dissecting me,” I said. “Stop comparing me to your conquests, too. I amnotcross with you.”
“You’re not?” he wondered. “Yousoundcross.”
“Yousound cross!” I grumbled. “I am perfectly content. But! But if Iwerecross with you, I’d sure have my purpose and my purpose would be decent.”
He checked around us.“Are you cross about our kiss?”
“Yes,”I said back. “I’m cross about our kiss.”
“You kissedme,”he said.
“You,” I shifted.“You kissed meback.How dare you leave that out.”
“I didn’t leave it out. I did kiss you back,” he said. He tensed. “But Iapologizeif that somehow offends you. I thought the kiss was mutual.”
“It was mutual!” I cried. “And thatoffendsme. Itoffendsme that you only kissed me once.”
“Once?” he asked.
“Yes. We’ve had plenty of chances to find ourselves entangled upon the floors of stables, or in farm houses, or- I just don’t understand why you have not kissed me a second time. And that upsets me becau—Whyare you always looking at me like that?That.That is exactly why I’m so angry with you! Stop your torture!”
After the time he took to process, he picked and chose a single word to repeat. “Once?”
“Yes,” I urged. “You kissed me once. Do try to keep up.”
“Hmm. That can’t be true.”
“Uh? Unless you kissed me while I was unconsciousthat night, then yes, by my count, you have kissed but once.” I shook my head. “This is stupid. This is a stupid argument, and now I am stupid for having it. I have blurted out my feelings and I am embarrassed. Can we not move on? We’re grown. Let’s decide it was a blunder of insanity. Let’s forget about it. Then we can both be quite happy and stop this maddening bickering and jus—Just please concede.”
“No.” He folded his arms.
“No?” I asked.
“Yeah, no. I don’t want to do that.”
