Page 91 of When You Were Mine

“Nah.”Really?She was going to ignore his confession? He’d never admitted that to anyone before. After spreading cream cheese on his dense, dark rye bread, he topped it with smoked salmon and pickled onions. “I’ve been offered lots of jobs over the years. My agent liked to talk about ‘stretching’ my acting skills. But I’m not interested in crying or delivering some emotional performance. The role of James Mackintosh was perfect for me because all I had to do was run onto the battlefield and?—”

“Make love to beautiful co-stars. Over thirteen films, you had children and wives die, you’ve had sex with countless women?—”

“None of it was real. You know that, right?”

“Of course. I’m just saying, I think you’re a better actor than you realized.”

“Elzy.” He broke into a slow grin. “Does that mean you watched my movies?”

With a sniff, she flicked invisible crumbs away from her bowl. “Who hasn’t?”

“Did you go by yourself?” he asked.

“Sometimes.”

He leaned across the table. “Did you touch yourself?”

She balled up her napkin and tossed it at him. “You’re disgusting.”

With a smug smile, he went back to eating. “I notice you didn’t answer the question.”

“No, Trevor. I didn’tpleasure myselfin a movie theater.”

He tipped his head to the side. “So, you waited till you got home?”

“No. I hated you, remember?”

He handed her the napkin. “Sometimes, hate sex is the best. Do you remember when you were so mad at me you skipped school?—”

“And you hot-wired Jimmy Labrosky’s truck and drove to my house?”

He laughed. “I could see you running around locking doors and windows?—”

“And yet you still got in.” Grinning, she rolled her eyes. “Who climbs onto a roof?”

“The guy whose girlfriend accuses him unjustly of fucking around with another girl.”

“Uh, you were screwing around. I saw it with my own eyes.”

“You saw a man who didn’t want to be at a party. I went upstairs to be left alone.”

“It was a bedroom. And you went upstairs because you were having a tantrum. You wanted to leave, and I wanted to stay.”

“Between the farm, school, and the football team, I didn’t have enough time alone with you.”

“So, you decided to spend what time you did have with Precious Grace Olson?”

Even though it was the most ridiculous conversation in the world—rehashing something that happened when they were seventeen—he still loved it. Because she was smiling, and the shared history was stitching them back together.

“Since you need a refresher, I’ll remind you I was in there alone before she came in.”

“Right, and then you wound up cuddling in bed.”

“That’s not how you found us, and you know it. She was freaking out because Bill Oberlansky threw up on her shoes. She rinsed her legs off in the bathtub, and I got her a towel. I was only talking to her because she was crying. Period. I did nothing wrong, and you know that because you ‘saw it with your own eyes.’”

“And you’re telling me if you’d walked into a bedroom during a party and found me canoodling with Bill Oberlansky, you wouldn’t have been upset?”

“I would’ve knocked him out cold.”

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