“Look, I get your hold-up. I get that he betrayed you, humiliated you,hurtyou. But that was two years ago. People change. Circumstances change. You’d do well to remember that. Just because someone hurts you doesn’t make them incapable of redemption.”
“It should,” I mutter under my breath.
“I’m not saying you should rush into bed with the guy. I’m just saying, give him a chance. He might surprise you.”
“Where is this coming from?”
“River.”
“River?” I quirk a confused brow.
“When we left the restaurant, he said, and I quote, ‘That poor sap has got it bad. Too bad for him, Maisie looks ready to eat him alive.’ End quote.”
“How would he know that?”
“I asked him the same question. He said that men are easy to read, if you know what you’re looking for. I told him nothing about men is easy to read unless they just want to get laid. Now that’s a language I can speak.” She grins.
“Interesting.”
“What’s interesting?” She sits up straighter. “Oh my God, he said something, didn’t he? What did he say?”
“It’s nothing.”
“The look on your face does not say that it’s nothing.” She gives me a knowing look.
“He said he regretted not fighting for me when he had the chance.”
“I knew it!” She slaps her leg. “He’s totally smitten.”
“You mean River knew.”
“No, I picked up on it too. There was some serious tension between you two.”
“I may or may not have challenged him to prove he’s not the same guy he was two years ago.”
“And you’re just now telling me this!”
“I haven’t talked to you until now. And well, I’ve kind of been in denial.”
“Kind of.” She snorts loudly.
“Okay, full denial. Can you blame me?”
“Not at all.” She pulls her legs up, crossing them in front of her. “So what are you going to do?”
“No idea.”
“When do you see him next?”
“Tomorrow. We’re meeting to work on our psych assignment.”
“Okay, so let me ask you this... If he were to say, I don’t know, shove you up against a wall and kiss your face off, what would you do?”
“Kiss my face off?” I laugh at her choice of words.
“Shut up. You know what I mean. What would you do? Honestly...”
“I’d probably kiss him right back,” I admit, because denying it would be useless, especially with Char, who is far more perceptive than I’ve ever given her credit for.
