“Thanks,” I said, enjoying the casual intimacy of themoment, and glanced at the plate with a sentimental smile. “So, you justwhipped all this up?”
“I’m good, but I’m notthatgood,” he said, and then explained, “Leftovers from the other night, and don’tworry. No roofies in the potatoes.”
“You cook? Color me impressed.” The Patrick Kinney I onceknew could barely master a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese, let alone a finelooking roast beef.
“I do, actually, but I didn’t make this. I took some foodhome from my parents’ place. I’m over there for dinner a lot of the time.” Heshoveled some potatoes into his mouth, and his lips curled as he said, “If I’dknown homecooked food would makeyasmile like that,I would’ve blown your mind with a brisket and roasted potatoes. Oh well. Nexttime.”
“If there is a next time,” I grumbled, and by the tip ofhis head, I knew he was unconvinced.
My teeth sank into a biscuit, and I groaned. “God, I’vemissed your mom’s cooking.”
He laughed with a little shake of his head. “I don’t thinkanybody is supposed to compliment an Irish woman’scookin’.”
The accent floated heavily into his speech, hugging theword “Irish.” In all the years I had known him, I had never thought to ask ifhe knew when he was doing it. I always just suspected that he more often did iton purpose, after knowing it had become an aphrodisiac. A surefire way to getme out of my clothes and into the bed of his truck.
Was that his angle now? I was curious, but I decided not toask.
Some things were better left alone. Things like hot Irishaccents.
“So, what did you do after you left?”
“I went back to school,” I laughed.
He rolled his eyes to glare at me sidelong. “Oh, so youwere in school for ten years? What didyamajor in?Themeanin’ of life?” he deadpanned, laying theaccent on thick.
I snorted. “Since I never came home after—well, you know, Igot my Bachelor’s really fast and graduated when I was twenty-one. My collegeroommate and I got a couple jobs right out of school, got an apartmenttogether, and that’s where I stayed until I was twenty-five, until she and herboyfriend got a place together.”
He nodded once, encouraging me to continue, as he took abite of roast beef.
“Why do you want to know?” I laughed, feeling suddenly ondisplay.
“Because there’s this whole part of your life I don’t knowabout. After seventeen years ofbein’ in love witheach other, it’s hard to come to terms with the thought oftherebein’ a wholemissin’decade.”
I laughed. “We weren’t in love for seventeen years.”
“Oh, well, shite. That only makes one of us then. Awkward.”
“You werenotin love with me for seventeen years.”I reached over to playfully smack him in the arm, and he smirked.
“Hmm … Yeah, you’re right.” He looked away, eyeballing the ceilingfor two long beats of my heart. “It’s been longer than that. Twenty-nineyears?”
“You did notfallin love with me when you werethree. God, you’re being such an idiot.”
“Kinsey, I fell for you the second I saw you and yourstupid pigtails. I wasclingin’ toDa’slegs,beggin’ him to notforce me over to you, because I knew in my little heart, that I was done for.”He laughed, shaking his head against the back of the couch. “Hell, even atthree, I knew to stay the feck away from women. But then, Da shoved me over toyou, and …” He shook his head, turning back to face me. “Done.”
I laughed, as the heat crept up from my chest to my cheeks,blazing a trail where his words kissed my skin. “You’re such an idiot.”
“Maybe.” He nodded thoughtfully. “Or … maybe I’ve just beenin love with you for twenty-nine years. But, anyway, when you were twenty-five,what did you do?”
And so, I talked, while Patrick listened and hummedquietly. He was always a good listener. He wasstilla good listener. Ifound myself wishing that more had changed about him; not because I foundanything wrong with his comfortable consistency, but because I wanted to findreasons to leave. I wanted there to be a glaring problem in his personality, agaping hole that would make us so wrong all these years later, but the more Italked, the more he stared and hummed, and the more I found my heart singingalong.
“Did you have any boyfriends while you were away?” He askedthe question, and I laughed. “Why is that funny?”
“Why would you even want to know?”
“Justlevelin’ the playing field,Kins. You already know I was married.”
“That’s worlds apart from a few dates that went nowhere.”
