“My parents had their flaws,” he says softly, “but they never tolerated cruelty. If you thought I was laughing at you—” He shakes his head decisively. “I wouldn’t have done it. I know a lot of guys say that type of shit, and I’ll admit to some pretty dumb things, but not that. I’m sorry that you saw it that way.” His face clouds over again. “And I’m sorry that it stayed with you for so long.”

“I guess it’s my turn to apologize.” I fold my hands on the tablecloth to keep them from shaking. “Because it’s true. I didn’t come back here because I thought Ruby Bay or anybody in it deserved a second chance.” I drag my eyes up from the tablecloth to meet his. “I came to get revenge.”

There’s a heartbeat of silence while my words sink in. Roman blinks. Then....

He throws his head back and laughs.

It’s such a gorgeous, easy sound that it calls to something in the pit of my gut, and I can’t help but laugh, too. Out in the open between us, I can see my plan for what it was—ridiculous.

Finally, he gets a grip and leans forward, his elbows on the table, hands folded beneath his chin. “All right,” he begins, his shoulders still shaking with the remnants of laughter. “You decided to take revenge on me by being so—” He hesitates, and all the things I used to tell myself in school come sprinting back into into the gap. Difficult. Weird. Ugly. Quiet. Poor. “—so gorgeous and confident and—” Roman digs his teeth into his bottom lip. “—unbearably fucking sexy that it’s all I can ever think about?”

There’s only one answer. “Yeah. That’s basically it.”

His face settles into an expression I can only describe as awe. “Well, you pulled it off. That’s a hell of a revenge.”

My chest aches in a strange, broad way. “I didn’t pull it off. The whole idea of the revenge was to show off my new and improved self and then leave again before I—” Now my throat has gone tight. This can’t happen. I cannot cry on this date, even if it feels like a lifetime of pain is barreling toward me at a breakneck pace. “—before I got attached.”

His blue eyes are level on mine. “I don’t know if anyone’s told you this before, Jenny, but it’s okay to get attached to things that you...” If he says love, I’m going to lose it. “...things that you like.”