“For being here with me. I haven’t felt this…this at ease with my family in…” She shook her head. “I don’t know. Probably forever. Having you here as a buffer, it allowed me to enjoy my time with them without the constant anxiety I usually feel.”

Several moments passed before Jamar said, “At the risk of ruining what has been a surprising and extremely pleasurable end to my evening—”

“Don’t ruin it,” Taylor warned.

“I have to. This has been on my mind since yesterday.”

She lifted her head and narrowed her eyes at him. “What is it?”

“I still don’t understand why you went off on your brother the way you did. I know you said that you two get along like oil and water, but it seemed as if you were looking for something that wasn’t there.”

“You’re right,” she said. “You are ruining it.” She started to get up, but he clasped his hand against the small of her back.

“Can you hear me out?”

“I’m pretty sure I don’t want to hear whatever you’re about to say,” Taylor told him. “But fine.” She folded her hands over his chest and rested her chin on top of them. “Psychoanalyze me.”

“I’m not psychoanalyzing you. Well, maybe a little,” he said. “I just think that you’ve gotten so used to expecting your family to think the worst of you, that you automatically view whatever they say through that lens. Based on the way you described them, I was prepared to meet a bunch of ogres, but your family is great. Okay, your dad’s a bit intimidating, but even he’s not as scary as I thought he would be.”

“I never said they were ogres,” she said.

“But do you think you’ve been fair to them? I haven’t seen anyone in your family judging you or talking down to you this weekend.”

“Look, I know what you’re getting at,” she said.

“Do you?”

“You think this has something to do with my learning disorder.”

“Your undiagnosed learning disorder,” he corrected her. “But, yeah, possibly. Now, this is really going to sound like I’m psychoanalyzing you, but I think it’s possible that you’ve projected what you feel about yourself onto your family. They’re not the ones who see you as the black sheep, at least not from what I can tell.”

Taylor pinched his side. “I’m going to start calling you Doctor Phil instead of Twenty-Three.”

“Don’t put too much stock into my bullshit pop psychology,” he said. He trailed the pad of his thumb down her cheek. “I just don’t want you selling your family short.”