The Marriage Clause. Alexx Andria

caught a skin disease until it wore off.”

      At that I really did laugh. “Was this during your European pub crawl after high school?”

      “The very same. How’d you know? You were pretty young then.”

      “I always knew what was going on. My circumstances weren’t exactly normal.”

      He conceded my point with a silent nod, but before either of us could say much more, our food arrived and we both let it go, choosing dinner over uncomfortable topics.

      And I was grateful. I didn’t want to have a deep, soulful conversation with Luca about anything, much less my unorthodox childhood, thanks to his family, and he’d seemed on the verge of saying something distressingly nice or even apologetic.

      I couldn’t risk buying into anything he had to say, even if a part of me craved it more than I wanted to admit.

      I’d long since stopped wondering how things might’ve been different if Luca had apologized in the slightest for breaking my heart... I wondered if I would’ve granted my forgiveness. I knew the answer—of course I would’ve. I’d been helplessly in love with the jackass. I was pretty sure stars had twinkled in my eyes like a cartoon character whenever he’d been around.