Page 43 of The Law of Attraction
“No there doesn’t. Some of us just came from the factory broken.”
“I don’t think you’re broken.”
Once again, she found herself flummoxed because he’d said something nice to her. She chose the path of least resistance by ignoring it completely. “Not everyone has some deep, dark personal tragedy lurking in their past that molded them.”
He stopped chewing for a second. “Must be nice.”
Her eyebrows raised, along with her curiosity. “Do you have a tragedy in your past?”
“No,” he answered way too fast.
“Now who's lying? You know what I think? I think it's easy for you to tell the truth when it's about someone else, but it's another matter when it's your feelings on the chopping block.”
She could tell she'd scored a point, because his face looked like a door that had been slammed shut. But instead of feeling smug she felt bad. Whatever painful experience had made him into the person he was today obviously wasn’t something he wanted to talk about.
“Never mind,” she said. “I didn't mean to push.”
“Yes you did.”
She lifted her eyes to his. “No, and that's the truth. I wouldn't have brought it up if I'd realized there was really something there. It wasn't my intention to make you uncomfortable.”
He nodded, seeming to accept this. “I’m not uncomfortable.”
“Okay.” She was certain he was lying again.
“I’m not. I’m…” He trailed off, frowning.
“What?”
“I don’t know what I am.”
“That’s okay too.”
He shoved the last bite of granola bar in his mouth and carried the wadded-up wrapper over to the trash. “It’s not really a tragedy. Not like you’re thinking. No one died.”
“Okay,” she said simply. She gestured at the table. “You want something else?”
He selected another granola bar, shrugging as he unwrapped it. “It was just your standard-issue, run-of-the-mill heartbreak. The kind of thing that happens to people every day.”
The tautness in his expression caused a surge of protective feeling in her chest. “There’s nothing run-of-the-mill about having your heart broken.”
“No, I guess not.” He bit into his granola bar and swallowed with a grimace.
She sat down on the foot of the bed but didn’t say anything. She wouldn’t push him to talk about something that was obviously painful. If he wanted to tell her more, it was up to him.
He walked over to the window and pushed aside the blackout liner to peer into the darkness. “It’s raining again.”
“It rains a lot here this time of year. Except when it doesn’t. It’s always either flooding or a drought.”
They both fell silent.
“I had a girlfriend,” he volunteered finally, still staring out the window. “A serious one. We worked together at my last job and dated for almost two years. I was going to propose.” He fell silent again, although that clearly wasn’t the end of the story.
“What happened?” Olivia asked when he didn’t say anything more.
He turned around, but kept his eyes on the floor. “I found out she was sleeping with my best friend.”
“Motherfucker.”
