Oh my God. I couldn’t recall ever seeing Diana so nervous. I didn’t say a word, but waited it out, letting her get there in her own time.
“I… I’ve been seeing someone.”
I blinked. Stared. “Oh.”
Brilliant response, Kieran.
Diana laughed. “That wasn’t quite the reaction I was expecting.”
I shook my head, my smile finally making an appearance. “No, I just—” I paused. “That’s good.”
She beamed. And suddenly there it was for all to see, clear and unmistakable.
She’s happy. Not in a tentative way, or even amaybe this might workway. She wasn’t questioning it. It was as though she’d stepped into something that finally fit.
“How long have you been seeing him? Or her,” I added quickly. Because with our track record, I wasn’t about to assume anything.
“A little while,” she said. “It wasn’t planned. It just… happened.” Her eyes sparkled. “And it’s ahim, by the way.”
I nodded. “And?”
Diana hesitated for the second time. “I think it’s real.”
“I’m glad,” I said in a quiet voice. And I was, completely.She deserves that.
Her smile lit up her face. “Thank you.”
When she didn’t continue, I frowned. “Is that all I get? No name? No scandal? No dramatic backstory?”
She laughed again. “There’s plenty of time for that. Right now I want to talk about you.”
It seemed I’d been right about the interrogation after all.
I let out a quiet breath. “That’s… more complicated.”
“You’ve been back a month, and you already look as if you’re planning your escape.”
That caught me off guard. “Escape?”
She shrugged. “Maybe that’s not the right word. But you’re not here, not really.”
I considered denying it.
“I don’t know if I want to stay,” I confessed instead.
“Because of what happened in college?”
“Partly.” I paused. “It doesn’t feel the same.”
“How?”
I frowned slightly, searching for something that wasn’t abstract.
“I used to know exactly where I fit,” I said. “What I was doing. Why it mattered.” I let out a breath. “Now it feels as if I’ve stepped back into something that doesn’t quite… hold me anymore.”
Diana studied me. “That sounds as though you’ve changed.”
“Maybe.”