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“I mean — at this point, I don’t have a clue what I mean.” He stroked her hair. “I don’t have a clue what you asked me, either. You distract me.”
“Van, maybe the Kazinskis were right about your difficulty keeping up with a conversation. I’m trying to talk about a certain Saint Bernard and a certain BassetHoundofouracquaintance.Doyouthinkthey fell in love at first sight?”
“Dogs don’t fall in love at first sight.”
“I’m not so sure about that. Do you think people do?”
“Of course not.”
“I do.”
“You do what?”
Van sounded cautious now. Of course. The word love had entered the conversation.
“I believe in love at first sight.” She tried to put some patience into her voice. “In fact, I know it exists,becauseI’minlovewithyou.Havebeensince we ran into each other in the park.”
“I — see.”
Now the caution in his voice had kicked into twenty-sixth gear. He cleared his throat. “Yes. You did … mention … something about that. We were going … to talk … about that.”
So, now that she’d worked up the courage to have that talk, he was ducking for cover like Superman confronted by Kryptonite.
Maybesheshouldbreakoutthehandcuffs.Forjust long enough to make him listen to what she had to say. Or maybe not. He was trying heroically all on his own to not throw on his clothes and run. She had to give him that.
“It’s a family curse,” she said.
“Oh.”
The word echoed with — disappointment?
“No, no, the fact that I fell in love with you, that’s a blessing.”
“Oh,” he said with satisfaction.
“And the part about falling in love at first sight, well, I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or bad. The curse part comes in because I already know you won’t fall in love with me, at first sight or at gazillionth sight. Is that a word?”
“Uhhhh — ”
“Sheesh. You sure do have trouble following conversations, don’t you? Is gazillionth a word or not?” She was babbling. She knew she was babbling. She wished she could confine her babbling inside her head so he didn’t know she was babbling.
“Uhhhh — ”
“Yeah, probably not,” Mary said. “Actually, you’re probably safer that way.”
“I’m safer — which way?”
“Well, Van, think about it. I’ve told you the whole truth and nothing but the truth already. You don’t have to worry I’ll try to use sex to lure you into a long-term relationship. I mean, women have fallen in love with you before, right?”
“Uhhhh — ”
“You know what, Van? It really is okay to contribute a little more to this conversation than one syllable at a time.”
“Uhhh — I mean, okay, I’ll do that.”
“Okay, we’ll say for the sake of argument women have fallen in love with you before.”
He bristled. “What do you mean we’ll say that for the sake of argument?”
