“Mmmm … this is really, good, Harley!” I exclaimed.

She nodded, and then swallowed what she had in her mouth. “I’ll fix a different combination when you’re done with what you have now,” she said after taking a quick sip of the wine.

She eyed me out of the corner of her eye.

Smirking, she asked, “So … talking to Suzy … talking about her … you seemed a little jumpy…”

I set my fork down. Much as I’d wanted to finish the last bits of food in my plate, I knew I’d have to come clean about Suzy sooner or later. Sooner better than later, in case something slips out when Suzy gets here.

“I have to confess that Suzy was one of the women I’ve slept with,” I said quietly, nervously linking my lips.

Her eyebrows raised, “But I thought you just met her in the flight over …” her voice trailed off.

She gave me a half-smile, and then picked up her wine and sat back, partially covering her face with the wine goblet as she sipped from it.

I pursed my lips, finished off the food in my plate, and took a sip of the wine. And then looked at her.

“Did that happen a lot?’ she asked after a while.

I shook my head, and, after a beat, she sat up again, and picked up my plate and started to fix another round of appetizers for me.

“But I did cheat on almost everyone I became involved with …” I admitted, and gave her a nervous half-smile.

She rubbed the backs of her fingertips again on my arms after she handed my plate to me.

I continued in between small bites, “But before Chris … I didn’t really date much, actually. I preferred to keep to myself in college, and, although I’d dated then, even when I started working, I wasn’t really putting myself out there. Dated occasionally, but that was it.”

She was looking at me with warmth and had laid her fork down as she waited for me to swallow what I had in my mouth.

She reached out to hold my hand.

In the silence, I searched her eyes and saw that she was open to talk about the relationship that had most defined my past.