His adorable face scrunched up in a “huh?” look. “Who’s Lydia?”
“Our old next-door neighbor. She’s eighty-three, watches Judge Judy at ear-shattering decibels and loves pickled gefilte fish.”
“You love to avoid, don’t you?”
Quinn put her hands to her chest and mocked surprise with the bat of her eyelashes. “Me? The woman who’s been looking for her Mr. Darcy since she was old enough to know what the words ‘unrealistically’ and ‘romantic’ meant? That’s just plain silly.”
But suddenly, Khristos wasn’t joking. His face took a harder turn. As though he needed to drum into her head why she’d been so wrong about Igor. “My point is, Shawna could have been anyone. You were a placeholder until he figured out what he wants—and he was yours, by the way.”
She didn’t like that. She didn’t like it at all. “Igor’s a jerk.”
He pushed his milkshake aside, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “Igor’s just confused.”
“Are you defending him?”
“Someone has to. I mean, the guy went to poetry readings for you. I’d rather watch paint dry than sit through something like that. But I won’t do something I’m completely disinterested in just to avoid sleeping alone. If I’m honest, I feel a little sorry for him. He was pretty lost for a really long time.”
Was? Her cheeks went hot, her jaw tight. “Oh, and I suppose now he’s not lost because Shawna and her ripped body and skimpy clothing helped him find his way?”
Khristos stared at her for a moment before he answered. “I don’t know if he’s still lost. But forget Igor. What I’m saying is, he was the wrong man for you, Quinn. I am absolutely not saying his infidelity was okay or fair to you. But in the long run, you’re better off because Igor doesn’t know what he wants in a life partner. You do.”
“The hell I do. I don’t know what I want, because when I think I have what I want, what I want turns out to be a fat lie.”
“All the romantic notions aside, like sunsets and picnics in the park while the breeze blows through all that luscious hair of yours, you want two things, Quinn. You want unconditional acceptance, and a real man with unshakeable morals.”
He thought her hair was luscious?
Knock that right off, dreamweaver.
Her heart crashed against her ribs. Yes. That was what she wanted. “Well, I didn’t get that, which is why I stink at this Aphrodite thing thus far. And isn’t what I did the same thing as what Igor did? I allowed myself to ignore the signs he was wrong for me because I didn’t want to be alone?”
Khristos shook his head. “You’re not afraid to be alone, Quinn. You’ve done that before and you were perfectly happy with your life and your books. A little lonely? Maybe. A little isolated because you live in those books you read so many of? Maybe. But you weren’t miserable. Igor is miserable. With himself, with his life. His validation comes from the coup of getting the girl. Once he has her, and she’s not what he’d hoped, he strays because he’s always searching instead of finding out what it is he wants. Instead of learning to like his own damn company. And yes, you were happy with Igor for a time, but you didn’t love him the way you want to love a man, the way you should love a man, and you never would have. Eventually, you would have been discontent and grossly disappointed.”
“Well, how nice. Got a big fat bow you can slap on that evaluation of my love life?”
He looked perplexed and it showed when he frowned. “Don’t take insult, Quinn. I’m just trying to help you get over your breakup.”
“Phew. You’re a real soother, huh? Next time, just hand me the gallon of ice cream and skip the assessments. It would be kinder.”
Still, he persisted as though he just didn’t get how insensitive his words came off. “I’m just trying to help you understand how this works in correlation to you.”
Using the heels of her hands, she pressed them against the table and stretched her arms. “Right, so we can hurry things along and you can get back to your playboying. Forgive me in all my novice for holding you up.”
“No. That’s not it at all. I’m telling you this for the future. So you know what you need to look out for. You want a man who challenges you. Not a man who