But I refused to be distracted. "Back to your last girlfriend, you were saying…?"
He gave me a look. "Nice try."
"What do you mean?"
"You changed the subject."
"Yeah, but you changed it first." I smiled. "So if you tellme, maybe I'll tellyou."
"Only maybe?"
"I never promise more than I deliver." And even though I'd said it mostly as a joke, it was still the God's honest truth. I hated to disappoint people, especially people I cared about.
When Bryce said nothing in reply, I asked, "You didn't change your mind, did you? I mean, is the thing about your last girlfriend something you'd rather not talk about?"
His expression turned pensive. "I didn'tplanto talk about it. But then again, I didn't plan for the sewer break either."
"Well,that'snot a good sign."
"Meaning?"
"Well…if you're comparing your relationship to a sewer break, I'm guessing it was pretty volatile."
This made him laugh, not a loud laugh, but a low laugh devoid of real humor. "You wanna know what our relationshipwasn't?"
"What?"
"Volatile," he said. "Ask anyone. We never fought."
"Never?"
He frowned. "Nope."
I studied his face. "But isn't that agoodthing?"
"It sure seemed that way." His voice hardened. "Until it didn't."
I was still trying to get a handle on it. "So I'm guessing you only dated for a short while?"
"Sorry, but you'd be guessing wrong. We were together for nearly three years."
"Wow," I breathed. "That's like forever. So, what happened?"
"I should back up," he said. "She lives in Florida, not originally, but that's where she settled after college."
Deliberately, I pushed aside the thought that she had a college degree while I didn't. "Where was she from originally?"
"New Mexico."
"So she likes warm weather, huh?"
"Yeah. But so do I."
I glanced toward the front window, where snow was falling in big fluffy flakes. "So why'd you move back to Michigan?"
"Maybe I like colder weather, too."
I smiled. "WellIsure do. I think winter's my favorite season."
