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She’d opened her mouth to snap back at him, but she stayed silent as her eyes went wide. Her head snapped toward the dining room, then her gaze shot back to him. “What?”
“You left one out. I saw the picture, the places. And the way you talk about traveling. Jesus, Sophie. You’ve got to leave this place behind. No one would know anything about you if you ever bothered to get more than an hour from home.”
“I know that!” she snapped. “You don’t have to tell me that. You think I’m so stupid that it hasn’t occurred to me?”
“Of course not. But I can’t figure out why someone as smart as you can’t see what she needs to do.”
“I’m not you, Alex. I don’t need to flee every serious relationship and live like a nomad.”
“No, you need to stay here to prove to yourself and everyone else that you’re a better woman than your mother was.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he wanted to take them back. He was pissed, she’d hit a nerve, and he’d decided to fight back. But he knew he’d gone too far even before she slammed her water glass down on the counter and stood up straight.
“Fuck you,” she growled. “It doesn’t have to be anything screwed up or pathological just because I love my family. My dad is a good man who needs my help. God knows my brother isn’t going to do anything for his family. He’s kind of like you that way.”
“Maybe he doesn’t feel like he owes his family anything more.”
“Well, I do.”
“Why?”
Her sigh was a quick, sharp breath of impatience. “Because I love my dad, Alex.”
“You say that like it’s an obvious explanation, but people who love their families still grow up and leave. They get married, they move away, they travel. They don’t just cut out pictures of places and glue them into books for their whole lives, Sophie.”
She stepped forward like she wanted to push him or hit him or slap him, but instead she pointed at the door. “Go. You already left once. That’s what you do, right? You leave when anything gets the slightest bit difficult. So leave. We’re not going to fuck, and that’s clearly what you came here for. ‘I didn’t really want to see you again, but I’m here now, so...’”
“I did want to see you again. I came by three times!”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “I just—”
“Why would you want to spend time with some pitiful, dried-up loser who’s never been more than a few hours from home? My God, time must have really dragged when I wasn’t on my knees for you.”
“Damn it, that’s not what I meant at all. I meant that you’re amazing and interesting and you’re wasting your fucking life here.”
“You don’t know anything about it!”
“I know what’s out there, Sophie. I know what you could see and do if you’d stop being so damn terrified to leave. What do you think is going to happen? Do you think your dad won’t survive? Do you think he won’t love you anymore?”
She jerked back as if he’d slapped her, all the color draining from her face. “Shut up.”
“Hey.” He reached out to take her arm, but she pulled it away. “Sophie.”
“Just go.”
“You don’t really think that, do you?”
She shook her head, her jaw clenched tight.
“I’m sorry. It frustrates me that you’re so wild and bright and you’re stuck here like a bird with clipped wings.”
“I’m not stuck here. That’s how you see it because you can’t stay in one place for more than a month. I love people, Alex. I take care of them.”
“And what happens if you don’t?” he asked.
“I...I don’t know. I don’t have to know. I won’t find out.”
