I coughed again, but there was no loosening the pressure. “I’m a Dodger now, and I need to think about my future.”
She began worrying at her lip, and it took all my strength not to pull it free from her front teeth.
“Okay.”
“My future doesn’t include you.” I struck the first blow, harder than any heavyweight could handle. “I’ve got a job to do now. I need to concentrate on me, and I can’t do it with you around. You’re too needy, Marnie. You’re clingy and you suffocate me until I can’t breathe.”
I studied her; it was possible she’d stopped breathing herself.
“It’s becoming embarrassing. Everyone at school’s been talking and I can’t bring this with me.” My heart ached from the lies I was spewing. “I don’t have time for a relationship. I don’t have time for you.”
Tears spilled thick and fast, too much for her to be able to see properly, but she didn’t wipe them away. She didn’t attempt to speak which made it easier for me to spit out the words I’d been rehearsing since last night.
I’d prepared.
I rarely won an argument with her, and I knew she’d want to counter any point I made.
She’d want to talk about long distance, tell me what she’d been planning without my knowledge.
And I couldn’t have that. I couldn’t have her ruining her future for me.
“We’re done for good. And when I pick a girlfriend, it won’t be you.”
The only way I knew she’d heard what I’d said was from the wince flickering across her horror-struck features.
“I don’t love you.”
It could have been a sharp intake of breath I heard, or it could have been the final crack of my heart, of my chest breaking open until its contents spilled out onto the ground.
Or maybe it was hers.
I stood there until I could bear it no longer and turned, walking away to the sound of her wail, followed by a thud as she slumped down onto her porch. But I didn’t turn around.
I heard the door open and Noah calling to her, but I didn’t turn around.
“Reeves! Reeves, get back here!” he yelled over her sobs.
I would say I’m sorry, but that would be another lie to add to my tally. I might not have been the smart one in our relationship, but I knew I was smart enough to make the only decision that was right for us – that we couldn’t be together now.
Just like I was smart enough to know that Marnie Matthews was the only girl who would ever own my heart.
I knew… because I’d left it on her porch steps.
But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Right?
Let’s see, shall we?
Chapter 62
Present Day
No one likes the first day of work.
They might say they do, but in reality, it’s the nerves and excitement getting in the way of the truth.
First days of work blow.
Especially first days of work in a job you don’t want and know nothing about; a job that required a relocation across the country, and came with new colleagues you’ve spent fifty percent of your life avoiding.
