Page 34 of First Date: Divorce
He thunked the filled bowls and a pair of spoons on the counter.
She glanced at them, then at him.“No banana?”
“No.There are no bananas left in my house.Pauline threw them out.”
She frowned slightly.“I don’t— Oh.Because of me?There’s no reason you shouldn’t—”
“I don’t give a damn about having bananas in the house or not.But you didn’t tell me.Didn’t even include it on your list.”
“I didn’t think about it.”
“You thought to tell everybody at Far Hills about it, which then found its way to Pauline.It’s exactly the sort of thing that could trip us up.A food allergy—”
“I did not tell everybody at Far Hills.I happened to mention it in the course of a conversation.And I’m not allergic.I just don’t like them.”
“More than that if you get sick on them.You could blow this whole thing if you keep holding back parts of yourself.”
Her building irritation evaporated.
…if you keep holding back parts of yourself.
Was that what his ex-wife did?A reasonable conclusion from fragments he’d let fall.
She touched his arm below his rolled-back sleeve, surprising herself.
Immediately, she pulled her hand back.Not fast enough, though, to miss the warmth of his skin over solid muscle.
“We can’t possibly tell each other everything,” she said quickly.“We can only try to hit the highlights.We will trip up.We should focus on covering up on the fly when there’s a slip.I’d even eat a banana if I had to.”
His expression eased.“You’re right.We can’t tell each other everything, especially not in this short time.But if we can avoid things we know would trip us up—”
“I’m sorry.”
“I wasn’t angling for an apology.”
“Sorry— God, I hate that — saying sorry automatically.My mother does that.All the time.”
She stopped abruptly.
Keep it close to the truth, Tal Bennett had said, and she had.Too close.
Eric rested his warm hand on her forearm.As brief as her touch, yet …
“What are you worried about, K.D.?”
Bananas are one thing, but I shouldn’t have let my mother slip into this.
Wasn’t telling him that, either.
The case.That’s what she needed to focus on.
“If that was our first fight, we won’t convince anyone we need marriage counseling.These—” She gestured toward the pad where Pauline had listed problems.“—are generic.Will they accept us as a couple in trouble if we come in with these?”
He chuckled shortly.“I suspect that if it weren’t for generic issues, marriage counselors would go out of business.Okay, back to work.”
Only later, in bed, going over the growing pile of material again, did another thought surface:
Eric had recognized she’d been worried.
