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"Talk to me."

"About what?"

"Whatever's going on in that beautiful, terrifying brain of yours."

"Nothing's going on."

"Liar."

Her eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"

"You're doing that thing."

"What thing?"

"The thing where you pretend everything's fine while mentally preparing a thirty-seven-slide PowerPoint presentation explaining why feelings are a terrible investment."

She blinked. Then her mouth fell open. "I do not do that."

"Sweetheart, if emotional avoidance were a Fortune 500 company, you'd be its CEO."

"I already am a CEO."

"Exactly. You're clearly qualified."

She tried not to smile. Failed. Then she looked down at the blanket between us.

I reached over and brushed a stray strand of hair off her cheek, tucking it behind her ear. "Seriously. What's wrong?"

For a few seconds, she didn't answer. Then she took a deep breath and said, "I had fun tonight.”

"I noticed. You almost smiled at me without insulting me two times."

"I smile at you all the time."

"True. But most of those smiles are immediately followed by threats of bodily harm. It’s sending very mixed messages."

Her mouth fell open. "Mixed messages?”

"You are a walking contradiction,” I teased.

Her shoulder shrugged. “I’ve been called worst.”

“Good to know. If you could email a list of the names and addresses, if you got them, I promise you they will never say another bad word about you again.” I was joking. Sort of.

She shook her head, rolled her eyes, and smiled. It was my personal favorite trifecta reaction. Then her eyes found mine again, and she sighed. "Seriously though, I had a really good time."

"So did I."

"No, I mean..." She exhaled, and I saw she was trying to gather her thoughts.

I waited.

"After talking to Annie, I was upset, really upset, and then I wasn’t. Because of you. Tonight was easy. Being with you is easy and fun. And I don't..." She stopped, pressing her lips together.

"You don't what?"

"I don't do easy and fun." Her big brown eyes were so sincere, I could see that she truly believed that.