Page 77 of Piece By Piece

“Liza…”

“When? After you had already decided? After you had packed up all your things, or what? You were just going to disappear, the way you disappeared this week?”

She was shaking now.

“You kissed me. You gave me a crossword that said stay, and the whole time, you weren’t planning to. You had one foot out the door.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“It is that simple. You had information that affected both of us, and you kept it to yourself. That’s not at all complicated. That’s just hiding. And I now realize it’s just what you do.”

She could see the words land like a slap.

His jaw tightened, and his knuckles went white.

“You don’t understand,” he said.

“Okay, then help me understand.”

He was quiet for a very long time.

The shop was so silent except for the hum of the overhead light.

“I don’t know how to do this,” he said finally. “I don’t know how to want something this much and not be absolutely terrified of losing it. Every time I get close to something good, my brain tells me, oh, this is how it starts. This is how it’s going to break you. This is how it starts, and then it gets taken away, and I’m standing in an empty room wondering what I did wrong.”

“So your solution is to leave first?”

He didn’t deny it.

“Grant, look at me.”

He looked at her.

His eyes were dark, and his face was drawn.

She could see the war raging behind his expression.

“I am not Owen,” she said. “I am not going to disappear on you, but you don’t get to disappear on me either. That’s not how this works. You don’t get to give me ‘stay’ and then choose to go without even letting me be part of the conversation.”

“Well, what if I take this deal and it’s wrong? What if I don’t take it and I resent this place? What if I stay and I lose you anyway?”

“And what if you don’t?”

The question hung between them.

She could see that the one variable his careful brain had never accounted for was the possibility that something good could just last.

He didn’t answer.

She picked up the cookie jar and held it for a moment.

This ridiculous thing that had somehow become the most important thing on the counter.

She set it back down gently, like she was putting something precious back where it belonged.

“I’m not asking you to turn down the deal. I’m not even asking you to stay. I was asking… asking you to be honest with me. That’s all. Just be honest.”

She walked to the door.