Page 45 of Raff
“You do believe in love, don’t you?”
“Love? Yes. Maybe not so much romantic love.”
“Wait… what? You’re serious?”
“I mean, I think you can love someone you’re in a relationship with. But I don’t think it’s the stuff you hear about in songs or see in books and movies.”
“So, you’ve never been in love with someone you’ve dated?”
“No. Have you?”
“No. But to be fair, I haven’t really dated anyone since freshman year in high school. But I do believe in it. I see it every day when I’m in Shady Valley.”
To that, she shrugged.
“Just for that,” I said, snatching the phone out of her hand, “we are watching a romantic movie.”
“Oh, God, no.”
“Yep. You brought this upon yourself. Are you feeling summery? Or are you sick of the heat and want a cold-weather romance?”
“I want an action movie. But, I guess, cold.”
“Good. Now you’re going to watch a movie about a woman who acts like she’s engaged to a man in a coma while she falls in love with his brother. At Christmas.”
“What?”
“You’re going to love it.”
“Doubtful. Very doubtful.”
“You cold, hard cynic, you,” I said, climbing off the bed when my phone dinged with a notification. “Okay. I’m getting dessert. Then we are falling in love with Bill Pullman.”
“If you say so,” she called.
So we ate our cobbler and drank our coffee as we watched the movie. And despite her insistence that she didn’t like romantic movies, I could see how much the story pulled her in.
“What are you doing?” she asked when I paused the movie.
“Look at that look on the man’s face,” I said. “That’s love.”
“He’s acting.”
“Like a man in love. Though, to be fair, I don’t think anyone has to act like they’re in love with Sandy Bullock.”
“Are you done talking? I want to watch this blow up.”
I snorted at that but rewound a second and hit play. Then I watched her while she watched the movie.
I saw her eyes water at the big reveal.
Then go gooey at the proposal scene.
And I knew I had her.
Even if she would never admit it.
“Okay. That was a good movie,” she decided afterward. “But it is fiction.”
