“Because you’re with me now,” he said. And what he said were words he had never said to another human being ever before. He looked at her. When her big, brown eyes looked at him, he was even more certain. “That’s why,” he said.
Maude stared at him. She didn’t know what to make of him. “I thought you were going to apologize,” she said. “And now you tell me this?”
But it was Edmund who was baffled. “Apologize for what?”
“For what you said about me not paying my bills.”
“You hadn’t paid your bill.”
“I know that. But . . .”
“But what? Did I lie?”
“No, you didn’t lie, but—"
“Did I leave you high and dry, or did I take care of it?”
Maude felt overwhelmed by this man. “Yes, you paid it. And I thank you for that. I’ll pay you every month instead of my landlord until it’s all paid back to you.”
“Yes, you will,” he said.
Which only made Maude more perplexed. “So you want the money back?”
“Of course I want it back. I’m your boyfriend, not your sugar daddy.”
Maude was floored on every level. “You’re my . . . boyfriend? Since when, Edmund? When did we have that conversation?”
“We had it in that hospital suite. We had last night when you kicked me out but I still caught up your rent. And we just finished having yet another conversation about the fact that you aren’t just another woman to me.” He stared into her eyes. “No where near it.”
Maude’s heart wanted to soar as she searched his eyes. Could this be true? Could he mean what he said? “But what about Teri and all of your other women?” she asked him. “Because I won’t be one of many.”
When Edmund inwardly smiled and was about to give a funny response, she was too quick for him. “I won’t be one of a few either,” she said.
He smiled. She was sharp. She was definitely the one for him. And as the reality of it set in for him too, his smile left. “You needn’t worry about that,” he said.
But Maude wasn’t so sure. Not with Edmund. “Have you ever been in a monogamous relationship before?” she asked him.
He didn’t have to think about it. “No,” he said.
“Have you ever tried to be in one?”
“No,” he said.
Then Maude exhaled. “What makes you think you’ll be able to be in one with me?”
Edmund was honest there too. “I’m not certain I will be. The jury’s still out on that. It’s a chance you’ll have to take.”
“But it could mean a broken heart for me, Edmund. I don’t do shit half-ass.”
“Neither do I. That’s why I’m not lying to you. Monogamy may not be new to you, but it’s damn sure new to me.” Then his handsome face frowned. “I can make no promises that it will work for me.”
It was the worst thing he could have said to Maude. “So what you’re saying,” she said, “is that you aren’t sure that I’m enough for you.”
“That’s not the way I would phrase it.”
“But that’s what you’re saying?”
Edmund wasn’t going to lie to her. “In essence, yes.”
