“Well, good. Because I’m not changing.” She jammed her spoon into her ice cream bowl and came up with a huge scoop, too big to fit in her mouth. With a grunt of frustration, she dropped it back in her bowl and spooned off a smaller bite.
“Is that what you think I want? To make you into someone else?”
“It seems like it.”
He thought he caught a glimpse of moisture pooling in her eyes before she looked away. Had he put that much pressure on her?
“Katie, I think you…” He swallowed. “I think you’re great, just like you are. I’m sorry if I made you feel—”
“No, I shouldn’t have said that.” She waved her hand to cut him off. “You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not your fault I’m dull.”
“Just because you have a few phobias doesn’t mean you’re dull.”
“Call me something else, if you want. Boring. Tedious. Uninteresting.”
“How about smart? Beautiful? Determined?”
“If I was all those things, Joseph wouldn’t have gotten tired of me.” Her harsh laugh didn’t cover the pain in her voice.
“Who is Joseph?”
“My ex-fiancé. We dated for five years. Evidently, he got bored with me after two, but didn’t realize it for another three. Or maybe he thought I would go through some miraculous transformation and become an interesting person.”
“Your fiancé said you were boring?” Gary had the urge to pound his fist against the wall and pretend it was Joseph’s face. “Who was he to judge?”
“I guess he knew me better than anyone.” She shrank before his eyes, as if her pride had leaked out through an open valve.
What kind of man would purposefully hurt such a sweet soul and tear her confidence to pieces?
Fury furled inside him like steam inside a kettle, but he kept the lid on tight. She’d already been wounded by this ex-fiancé. Losing his temper wouldn’t help anything. Gary stood and walked around the table to offer his hand. “Come sit on the couch with me. I want to tell you something.”
As he held her trembling hand and led her to the living area, Gary could only feel hatred for the man who’d put the slump in her shoulders. She sat beside him and made no effort to resist when he put his arm around her and tucked her against his chest.
“I’ve only known you a few days, and I think you’re fascinating.” He was telling the truth—he only hoped she would believe him. “So if Joseph thought you were boring, I’d say he didn’t know you at all.”
“You think that because I’m not being me, right now,” she muttered, her chin tucked down. “I got on a plane. I paddled a kayak. I got highlights in my hair. I’m even going on a zip line tomorrow. That’s me pretending to be someone I’m not. The real me would be curled up on her couch in her apartment right now, eating pizza and ice cream and binge-watching an entire TV series in one night.”
“What TV series?”
She looked up through her lashes, confusion in her eyes. “What?”
“I asked the name of the TV series, because the rest of that description sounds pretty good to me. I love pizza. And you saw the size of that bowl of ice cream I just inhaled. So I want to know if I’d like the TV show you’d be watching.”
A smile flitted across her face. “I like a lot of shows. Maybe A Walk in the Dark. Or Jim and Gym. Or Earth 5050.”
“Are you kidding me? You watch Earth 5050, and Joseph said you were boring? There’s got to be something wrong with that guy.”
She giggled, but then her face grew sober. “I know you’re trying to be nice, but you don’t have to pretend. You probably spend more time doing dangerous stuff every day than the stunt men in Earth 5050.”
“You mean dangerous stuff like riding the subway in New York? Because that’s about as exciting as my life gets on a normal day. That’s why I push the limits when I take a vacation.”
“Oh.”
Was she finally starting to believe him?
“And didn’t you have a little bit of fun yesterday, once your arm muscles quit shaking?” he asked.
“It was fun looking for birds.” She groaned, slapping her palm against her forehead. “I can’t believe I said that. I’m turning into my mother.”