Page 73 of Family Bonds- Gabriela & Luca

That wouldn’t be good for either of them.

“You are. If I have to be honest, I’m not hard-wired for the casual thing. Maybe that is why I don’t do it. I didn’t before I was married either. Not sure if that helps you or not. You’re trying not to put pressure on me. I get it. I appreciate it. But I’m doing the same to you.”

“Well, we need to stop that shit,” she said, nodding her head. Might as well put the humor back into this. It was how they handled things the best. “Stop overthinking. Tiptoeing. Protecting each other to death.” She smiled. “It’s exhausting.”

“It is.”

She leaned back, studying him for a second like she was assessing a puzzle she had to solve.

“So,” she said, brightening deliberately, “in the spirit ofnotspiraling, what are we doing with the rest of today?”

He blinked. “That’s it? No chart? No pros-and-cons list? I like graphs. I feel kind of cheated you don’t have one.”

“Oh, I have one,” she said, pointing to her head. “Right up here. I’m just choosing to ignore it for today. You know, it’s starting with a big X through the single section if that helps.”

He laughed, the tension easing out of his shoulders. “Thank God. I was worried there’d be homework.”

“Nope. Today is about getting back to easy.” She ticked points off on her fingers. “Low expectations. Zero emotional processing. Minimal clothing effort.”

“That last one feels loaded. In the best way possible.”

“Don’t read into it,” she said innocently. “Or do. I don’t care. We’ve got all day.”

He smiled, really smiled this time. “Okay. Easy sounds good.” He laced his fingers together and cracked his knuckles in front of him. “What does that look like?”

She swatted at him. “That’s a horrible habit. You need to stop that. You’re a doctor, you know better.”

He winked. “Some habits are hard to break, but I’m smart enough to know where to do it.”

She’d let that pass for now. “Well,” she said, thinking, “We need breakfast. Or I do. I’m too lazy to cook. So we should go somewhere with awful coffee and excellent people-watchers. That will help ease this for you. Get it out in the open right away on this small island that you’re taken.”

Which went back to that big X in the single column without having to say much.

Maybe, just maybe, it was a silent, passive aggressive way for her to lay that claim to him so all those single ladies who approached him last night and a few weeks ago knew he was taken.

He grinned at her and didn’t hesitate to say, “I thrive in judgmental people-watcher environments. But I do need to change out of these clothes first. We’ve both got a reputation to uphold on the island. You’re looking one way, and I’m looking like I’m doing the walk of shame.”

“Fair point. Let’s just go right to your place for that, then out to eat.”

“I can get on board with that.”

“Then,” she continued, “we find something mildly competitive. Nothing that reveals character flaws.”

“So… not video games.”

She was shaking her head rapidly. “Definitely not video games. I suck and hate them and you’ll see a side of me worse than getting a gremlin wet.”

He winced. “I get aggressively invested, but I’m nice about it.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I’m not nice when it comes to being aggressive. So.” Her finger went to her chin. “Competition. How are you at trivia?”

“Brutal,” he said. “I’m out for blood. But in a good way.”

“The same. We can make that fun. Trivia it is.”

He laughed again, softer now. “I like this plan.”

“Good,” she said. “Because the goal is simple. We remind ourselves that we’re good together when we’re not dissecting everything.”