“I love you,” I pleaded. I was sobbing. That soon led to snot pouring from my nose. My face got flushed. I put the bowl down and crawled on my knees to him. But he inched away. I touched his face, the whiskers on his chin. I went to kiss his nose that looked like a pug’s.

“Lexi.” He started untangling my limbs from his. “Lexi.” But I could be strong when I wanted, and I gripped him hard, my teeth snapping. “Lexi, get offa me.”

He gave me a toss and I spilled backwards off the couch. My butt came down hard against the coffee table, the pain traveling up my spine.

“I didn’t mean—” He held his arms out. He seemed like he wanted to cry. “You were acting crazy.”

“My butt,” I said, rubbing the sore. I pulled up my T-shirt and a tiny bruise was developing.

He spun off the couch toward the kitchen. “C’mon, you were coming at me. I never would’ve—Jesus, Lexi, you do this all the time. You get too intense. It’s like always highs and lows with you, I can’t take it anymore.”

“I love hard,” was all I could mumble. He returned with ice wrapped in a paper towel. “Here.”

I yanked it from his hand without a thank you and ran icy circles around the purpling mark.

“I should go,” he said, hands shoved in his pockets.

“No! We need to talk.”

“I think it’ll make things worse.” He grabbed his coat off the hook, jammed his feet in his Carhartt boots.

I leaped up, wiped the snot from my face to look presentable. I was pretty, even my mother said so, a pretty face. A long, equine nose. Some baby fat on my cheeks that lingered from when I was a kid, but a sweet smile. A stranger once called it bewitching. Steve would miss me. He was so even-keeled and I added fire.

“I’m sorry,” I said, sidling up next to him.

“For going into my phone?”

“For everything.”

“We just—haven’t been meshing. I don’t wanna sit around and watch stupid reality TV all the time.”

“I went hiking with you.”

“Once. And you complained the whole time. You got a bug bite on your foot and wouldn’t let it go.”

“It was a spider bite.”

“It’s okay. This is how I’ve felt for a while. At first, opposites attract, like it was cool, but now…”

My eyes brimmed with tears. I burped and it tasted like Chianti. “You want someone like Tawny.”

“I’m not with Tawny. I’m not with anyone. In fact, I think that’s best for me right now.”

I dove for his pants, unbuckling the belt and getting the zipper down. I got on my knees, but he had already backed up.