“We won’t.” Paige puts the last peg in place and grabs my face in both hands, her hold as steady as her words. It’s reassuring. “We’re in this together, right? So, it’ll take two of us to break it, and I’m not going to let you.”
“I’m not going to let me either.”
“Well, good.” She rises up on her toes to kiss me when my cell starts to buzz on the counter.
“It’s Isaac.” I’m already smiling as I answer because the guy just bought a ring, so there’s only one reason he’s calling me right now. “Hey, man. It’s not the best time. Can I?—”
“Benji.”
And, fuck, he sounds wrecked. Raw, like someone reached down his throat and pulled his heart out with their bare hands.
Oh no.
“She left me.”
“Fuck.” My heart plummets to the concrete floor. No wonder he’s devastated. I know what I need to do, but …
I look at Paige, who’s biting her lip, which I know she only does when she’s nervous. Dammit, I can’t leave her. Not again.
“Isaac, give me a second, okay?” I ask him, and I have to interpret the sound he makes as agreement.
I hold the phone to my chest and meet Paige’s worried gaze.
“Rebecca left him,” I explain. “But I don’t?—”
“You should be there,” she says, insistent. “I know you want to.”
“What about?—”
Paige pulls my free hand to her lips, kissing my knuckles. How could I ever think about leaving this perfect woman? I’ve only just gotten her back.
“We’ll be okay,” she says.
I don’t realize how much I needed to hear it until the relief is knocking the wind out of me. This is the real test. We were never going to be able to avoid problems entirely. I just hoped it would be later.
But if we can get through this, if we can handle it—as a couple—then there’s no doubt it’s forever.
“I’ll text every day.” I’m not leaving her. It’s not like last time.
“You’d better,” she whispers. “Now, you need to go pack.”
I pull her in for a kiss, deep and slow, allowing myself one final taste of her before I head back to my shop. I need to lock up and leave instructions and call people and … fuck.
“You still there?” I ask Isaac.
“I don’t know what happened, Benji. Everything was going great; we were talking about driving up to Julianthe next time we visited you and spending a weekend up there.”
“The kids would love that.”
“Yeah.” He sighs. “Then she says she’s not ready for kids. She thought she was, and she kept saying how much she loves them, but she has more life to live—whatever that means. Fuck, the kids are going to be devastated.”
“When are you going to tell them?”
“I don’t know. Fucking soon, I guess. Daphne keeps asking when Bec is coming back, and I hate lying to her. This is so hard. I really thought I’d found her, you know?”
“I know.” Fuck. “Look, I need to get someone to look after the shop, but I’m coming, okay? I’ll be on the first flight I can get.”
I drag a hand over my head, fucking pissed that I have to leave Paige, but I don’t have a choice. Isaac needs me. I have to trust it’ll work out.
