Page 49 of The Marriage Deal

"Wanna watch it?" He asked asThe Unsinkable Molly Brownpopped up as a recommendation on what to watch next.

"Another people-drowning movie? God no."

He chuckled. "How about…" He scrolled through the recommended movies. "Pride and Prejudice?"

I glanced at him. "You will pull out your hair over the inaccuracies in that film. The costumes alone will give you ananeurysm."

He shrugged. "It's one of your favorite movies."

"How do you know about this again?"

"Is it not? I remember hearing you and Jess talk about going to watch it when it was being shown in town. Maybe I was mistaken."

"For a guy who keeps to himself. You are such a gossip. Have you seen it?"

He shook his head. This was going to be good.

"So are we watching something else?"

"Oh, hell no. I love it. Plus, I want to see your face when you see the hair."

He groaned. "Please tell me that Jane Austen's work carries it."

I giggled. "It's a good movie. A really good movie. Just not one of finicky historians like you."

"I am not finicky. I don't mind inaccuracy. Sometimes."

"Uh, huh."

"It's the truth!"

"Really? Name one historical movie you like?"He went silent for what felt like a good two minutes. "Ha! You can't even come up with one!"

"Thing is. The ones with a good story are the most inaccurate, and the accurate ones have a terrible, dare I say, god-awfulstory. Or, what's worse. The story is good, and the costumes and everything else are accurate, but the clothes and the set design look horrendous."

I nodded. "Yeah."

We put on the movie. He did not grumble as I expected. Instead, we watched the movie in silence. I was enjoying it as always. But halfway through, I asked, "So? What do you think?"

"Shhh," he said. We had reached the proposal scene. Levi had become fully engrossed in the movie. His gaze on the TV. "She dumped him!" he said.

"Have you ever watched or read the book?"

He shook his head. "It missed me somehow."

"Fascinating."

We watched the rest of the movie in silence. Levi was reacting to every moment. He jerked forward when Mr. Darcy showed up at Pemberley. Then he gasped when Lydia told Elizabeth what Mr. Darcy did for her. And in the final moments of the movie, he was practically leaning over me, his head resting gently on top of mine as he held my hand.

"He came!"

"I know!"

"They love walking."

"A thing they bond over, it seems."

When the credits rolled, Levi drew back into the couch, sighing. "That was good."