All the stupid things he had said, the way he had prejudged Valeria, the way he had used Alice and Alice's father to annoy her... Christ, it was almost better to open a hole in the ground and throw himself in rather than face Valeria now that he knew the truth!

“Do you like my sister?” Alice asked point-blank.

“Eh? What?”

“Do you like my sister?” Alice was already doubting his intelligence when Nick seemed to wake up.

“Yes,” he admitted, “I like your sister, but I don't think I've been very nice to her.”

“I know that. She's cried more since she went to work at your company than she has in the entire last year,” Alice blurted out.

Wow, no filter! Nick thought, but he got a knot in his stomach just thinking about it.

“I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to make her cry,” Nick muttered.

“I know that too. You're just like me,” said the girl, going back to her ice cream.

“Oh, yeah? How's that?”

“You’re emotionally atrophied,” said Alice, and Nick winced in annoyance.

“Hey, who to