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I retract my hand from her chest. “You like sneaking around?”
Her head rolls back. “What does sneaking around have to do with getting married?”
“I don’t want to do it anymore. I want us out in the open. I’m done with looking around corners and spending every night alone in my bed. I want to tell Adley. You’re so concerned about money? Well, we have two mortgages that could be one.”
“You’re changing the topic,” she says. “The two things have nothing in common.”
“Actually, they do. It’s you keeping me all to yourself and not wanting the world to know about me.” Anger boils inside me, and I clench my hands to keep calm.
“You’re acting like a baby because I said no to your proposal.”
My phone vibrates on the side table, but I ignore it.
“A baby? You refuse to tell people about us. Why is that, Palmer? Because then maybe if you do decide to run, it’ll be easier. No witnesses.” She blinks a few times, but I keep going. “Or maybe you think that if this doesn’t work out, and we don’t make it, somehow you won’t hurt as much because the people you walk by on Main Street won’t know that we were dating in the first place. You know what amazes me? You’ve lived here most of your life, but you don’t realize that people see it. They see us together. The way we look at one another. The way we parent our daughter together. They know. Without us telling them, they know. You’re living in a dream world.”
She looks as if I slapped her—probably because I’ve never gone at her like I am right now.
“I know you want all this, but you won’t admit it to yourself. When I was at the cabin, I read some of your manuscript.”
“You what?”
I can tell she’s pissed, and she probably has a right to be, but that’s not the point right now. “That’s our story you’re telling. I know how you feel about me, how you’ve felt from the beginning.”
My phone vibrates again, interrupting me. I reach for it in case it’s about Adley, but it’s work. It goes to voicemail, and less than a minute later, it chimes, letting me know there’s a voicemail. I press the button to listen to it and put it on speaker.
Palmer stares at me, her mouth open. “Seriously? You’re checking your voicemail right now?”
“It’s work. You know, how I paid for that damn ring that I get to return now.”
She throws her hands in the air. “You made a rash decision.”
I ignore her, listening to my boss. Raul is out sick, and he needs me to come in. I text him that I’ll be in. The last place I want to be is here with Palmer right now anyway.
“I have to go.” I scramble to grab my stuff and get dressed.
“Hudson, someone else can do it. We’re in the middle of something.”
I shake my head. I need to calm down before we have this conversation again. I need to figure out what kind of future I want with Palmer and whether I can accept what she wants. “Later. I have to go.”
I change my clothes. She watches me the entire time, but neither of us speaks. After I’m ready to go, I hesitate by the door, unsure what to do. I glance at the ring on the night table, the diamond shining from the stream of sunlight coming in through the window.
“Hudson?”
“Not now. I need time. I’ll be home later. You’ll get Adley?”
She huffs. “Yeah, but?—”
I walk out of the room, downstairs, and outside to my truck. I start it up and pull out of the driveway, stopping when I get to the stop sign and taking in a deep breath as my fist pounds the steering wheel. I’m frustrated with Palmer and even more frustrated with myself.
I press on the gas, hoping the more distance I put between us, the more the pain in my chest will loosen.
