There’s a war going on in his face, shadows and light, and something that looks a lot like sadness.I wish I could see his eyes, but he’s keeping them averted.Maybe for the best.
“How did your brother die?”I ask, not sure I want to know.Maybe the same way mine did.
He visibly pulls himself together, and I can see the strain it’s causing him to do it, to keep the sadness from his eyes as he locks them on mine.“Not a great conversation to have in this nice restaurant.I also have a younger sister.Don’t see her much and I try not to miss her.”
“How come you don’t see her much?”I ask.
He shakes his head and he loses the battle to keep his emotions out of his eyes.The war on his face turns even more ferocious.“She made her choices and they cost us a lot.Maybe one day I’ll forgive her.”
But his face is telling me that’s a big lie.The shadows have won and he looks downright scary in the light cast by the candles on our table.I don’t think I should continue this conversation.But I want to know what happened.I want to know what caused all that scary darkness that holds him captive.I want to make it all go away for him.
“Why can’t you forgive her?”I ask.
He looks at me like I’ve startled him with the question.Then he grins wide, which chases most of the shadows away.
“You don’t want to know about my family drama,” he says.“It’s all very boring.”
But I do.I want to know everything about him.And I’m pretty certain that nothing about him is actually boring.
“I want to get to know you better,” I say, the words just slipping out of my mouth because I was thinking exactly that so hard.
He grins one of his mysterious grins.The ones that make his face prettier, but also somehow more dangerous.
“Oh, you do, do you?And what would your father say to that?”
“Talking about my father is kind of a bummer.”
The answer, of course, is nothing good.Which is the reason for my sudden anger.
“Or your future husband, for that matter,” he adds.“I’m sure your father’s got someone lined up for you already.No, no, Goldie, you see, we’re neither of us free to do whatever we want.”
My head is positively spinning from the truth of those words.And the terribleness of them.
“There will be no fiancé or husband for me,” I say.“My curse kills them all.”
Shock crosses his eyes.Good.That’s what I was aiming for.To shock him.To make him see me, not just my father.
“What kind of curse?”I expected him to flat out laugh at me, so I have no snappy answer to this question ready.Truth is, I don’t talk about the curse to anyone, but my sisters and that fortune teller lady one time.She couldn’t help me at all.No one can.
“I’m surprised no one’s told you about it yet, seeing as you’re my bodyguard now,” I say.“Bloody Gianna, Gianna the Cursed.That’s what they call be behind my back, have been doing it for years.It’s because no man I get engaged to survives more than a couple of months.”
He leans back, holding his wine glass in one hand and looking at me like he’s just now seeing me for the first time.
“Go ahead, laugh,” I say.“But it’s true.I’m unmarriable.”
“I don’t think curses are funny,” he says.“I’m carrying one myself.My whole family does.It’s been there for generations.”
A second time tonight, he’s saying something I never expected to hear come out of his mouth in a million years.My mind is spinning, thinking that we must truly be soulmates because we’re both cursed and both worried about it.I’m already kind of seeing our wedding.Definitely a nice big house with a view of the ocean and a bunch of children running around in the garden.
But when have two curses ever canceled each other out?
It always takes a non-cursed to break the other’s curse.In fairytales at least.
“What does your curse do?”I ask.
He just starts laughing instead of answering, and I’m pretty sure this is the most genuine thing I’ve seen him do since I met him.His laugh is contagious, I can’t help laughing too.Even though I don’t know what’s so funny.Except everything.
“So if we do get to know each other better, I’ll fall by your curse too, won’t I?”he asks after a while, trying to catch his breath from all that laughing.
