Book 5 - Page 103 (1/2)

“You and Eva both say things are good. What does that mean?”

I rolled my shoulders back to alleviate the tension there. “We’re … solid. There’s a stability now that wasn’t there before.”

He set his tablet on the armrest and met my gaze. “Give me an example.”

“The photo’s a good one. There were times in our relations.h.i.+p when a photo like that would’ve really screwed us up.”

“This time was different.”

“Very. Eva and I discussed having my bachelor party in Rio before I left. She’s very jealous. She always has been and I don’t mind. In fact, I like it. But I don’t like her torturing herself with it.”

“Jealousy is rooted in insecurity.”

“Let’s change the word, then. She’s territorial. I will never touch another woman for the rest of my life and she knows that. But she has an active imagination. And that photo was everything she feared in living color.”

Dr. Peterson was letting me do the talking, but for a second I couldn’t. I had to push the image—and the rage that it stirred—out of my mind before I could continue.

“Eva was thousands of miles away when the d.a.m.n thing exploded online and I had nothing in the way of proof. I had only my word and she believed me. No questions. No doubt. I explained as best I could and she accepted it as the truth.”

“That surprises you.”

“Yes, it—” I paused. “You know, now that I’m talking about this, it really didn’t surprise me.”

“No?”

“We both had a rough moment there, but we didn’t f.u.c.k it up. It was like we knew how to make it right between us. And we knew that we would. There wasn’t any doubt about that, either.”

He smiled gently. “You’re being very candid. In the interview and now.”

I shrugged. “Amazing what a man will do when faced with losing the woman he can’t live without.”

“You were angry about her ultimatum before. Resentful. Are you still?”

“No.” My answer came without hesitation, although I would never forget how it felt when she’d forced a separation on us. “She wants me to talk, I’ll talk. It doesn’t matter what I throw at her, what mood I’m in when I tell her, how horrible she feels when she hears it … She can deal. And she loves me more.”

I laughed out loud, startled by a sudden rush of joy.