Good Together Read Online Free PDF Page B

company. It's just a hobby now and you can never invest as much time into a hobby as you can into an actual profession."
    Troy looked as if he wanted to ask more, but then he closed his mouth as if he'd changed his mind. Instead he asked, "How old are you?" and then seemed to realize it might be intrusive because he followed it up with apologies. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be insensitive. You don't really need to tell me."
    Chuckling I did my best to calm him down. "It's all right; don't worry about it. I have no trouble telling you my age. I'm thirty-eight. How about you?"
    "Twenty-eight. But I never would have thought you were ten years older than me. You certainly don't look it."
    "Well, it must be the lack of grays and my nutrition." I laughed again, thoroughly enjoying myself. "I did think you were older, though. Why did you ask?"
    "It's just…" He touched his lip with his finger then reached for his cup. "You speak as if you have a life time behind you and it was difficult to imagine it when I would barely give you thirty and you already have a successful career and are a rather good artist."
    "Looks can be deceiving, I guess. But your instinct is right. I sometimes feel as if I was a completely different person before, and often it's hard to reconcile the two. I miss that life even when I'm happy with this one." I curved my lips in what must have looked like a sad grimace, because Troy reached over the table and gripped my hand with his. The touch startled me, but was pleasant enough that I turned my hand around and took hold of his the moment it seemed as if he might pull away.
    "I wish I could do something to help. You look sad even just speaking about it, but my experiences had mostly been dull or vicious. I've learned to prefer dull." He bit his lip as if he'd said too much.
    "Vicious?" I asked, as I leaned forward a fraction.
    "It's not something I like to talk about. I just prefer my life the way it is now. Little excitement." But Troy looked anything except satisfied if his expression was any indication and while I might have pressed, he didn't give me a chance. "What about you? Do you still hear from your old friends? Do you have any family?"
    He looked uncomfortable enough that I easily took off with the subject, not wanting us to already go our separate ways. "Sometimes, but not often. They have their own families, and I guess life just took them down a different path. I was in a bad way for a few years, and those who didn't stick around through me being an utter asshole I pretty much never heard from again. As for family, I have a sister, married with two sons, and my mum. They're north from here in Deli. It's a little town most people have never heard of. You? Any siblings?"
    "No. I'm an only child." And I waited for him to continue, but for some reason Troy found it appropriate to go back to his short answers. I frowned.
    Surprisingly enough, Troy matched my expression, tilted his head and asked, "Why do you do that?"
    "Do what?"
    "You get all serious and dangerous looking for no reason. It made me keep distance from you before because I just didn't trust your actions based on that expression." There must have been some kind of accompanying music to the epiphany I had in that moment. I did do something to make him blow cold.
    "I suppose it's my thinking face. Especially when something doesn't sit right with me. I was trying to figure out if your short answer meant you were back to using only cold two word responses with me, or if it was just a matter of the subject not agreeing with you." Troy flushed and I enjoyed every second of it.
    "I wasn't cold," he said, folding his arms over his chest.
    "Ice cold, baby." The red in his face deepened.
    "That's not true. I just wasn't feeling comfortable when you had your angry face on, but you kept pushing. So I tried talking to you as little as possible. I figured you would lose interest. I'm sorry if I offended you." He reached out with his hand, but then shrank