He laughed. “You’re still shiny.”
She groaned. “Don’t lie to me, Cary. It makes it worse.”
“Can I have more cake?”
“You can eat the whole thing.”
He cut himself a big piece. “You’re still shiny,” he murmured. He was laughing.
Shiloh watched him. She had plenty of cake left on her own plate. Her eyes felt big and warm. “You were so mad at me last night...” she whispered. (Because she could never leave well enough alone.)
Cary sat back, slowly. His face was sad when he looked up at her. “Yeah...”
“I’d like for us not to be angry with each other,” she said, still being quiet. “From this point forward.”
Cary was watching her, paying attention.
“Do you think that’s possible?” she asked.
He exhaled and ran a hand up through his hair. “I guess we do pretty well when we’re not... reaching for more.”
Shiloh nodded.
She hated that answer.
It brought tears to her eyes.
“I never meant to hurt you,” she said. “I neverknewI hurt you.”
Cary stared at her for a few long seconds. Then he said, “I don’t think we should hold grudges over things that happened when we were nineteen. We were just kids.”
“Yeah, but—” Shiloh was crying, she wished she wasn’t. “Ourwhole friendshiphappened when we were kids. And I want to hold on toallof it.”
He stared at her some more. There were lines in his forehead. “I felt like you used me,” he said. “I wanted you to want more. But, Shiloh—that’s on me, not you. You weren’t obligated to want more.”
Shiloh felt confused already. Again. “But I— I told you that Ilovedyou.”
“Yeah, and then you sent me packing.”
“I didn’t send you packing!”
Cary set his plate on the table. “I really can’t argue about this anymore.”
“We’re not arguing—we’re talking. We’ve never talked about it!”
He blew out a breath. “Okay. Let’s talk.” He gave her a stern look. “But don’t yell at me.”
“I didn’t send you packing,” Shiloh said again in a level voice. “You were already packed.”
He looked annoyed. “In the sense that I had just enlisted in theNavy, that’s correct. I’d spent eight weeks in boot camp and the main thing I learned there was that I wanted to be with you. I couldn’t get to you fast enough.”
She frowned at him. “You never told me that.”
He lifted up his hands. “I showed up at your door with my seabag and fell at your feet.”
“You didn’tfallanywhere, Cary.”
Cary still looked annoyed, but now he looked fierce about it. He leaned toward her, over his knees. “We spent two days in bed, Shiloh—I was head over heels. I would have done anything for you.”
