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Shrugging out of his hold, I push him away. “I’m not jumping to conclusions,” I yell, pointing at the papers on the floor. “It’s all right there. The airline ticket, the job offer, a freaking penthouse.”
“Which I haven’t accepted.” Aiden paces away from me and shakes his head. When he turns back to me, hands on his hips, he looks pissed. But he doesn’t have the right to be angry. I do. When I open my mouth, he cuts me off. “Stop interrupting me, and let me talk.”
My head is throbbing. Adrenaline and fear pulse through me. Fear that I made a horrible choice in giving him a second chance. Fear that he’ll break my heart a second time. Fear that he’ll leave me.
“Fine. Talk.”
Calvin steps forward and puts a hand on Aiden’s shoulder. “I’m going to go and let you two hash this out.”
“No. Stay,” Aiden growls.
Calvin’s eyes flit to mine, and then he pushes his hands into his pockets and steps back to the corner of the room.
“I haven’t accepted the job.” Aiden walks up to me but doesn’t reach for me. “Yes, they offered it to me along with the perks you just listed, but I haven’t accepted. Not yet, at least.”
There it is. “But you want to.”
“Of course, I want to. Did you see that offer? This is my dream.”
“What about me? Where do I fit into all of this? Or maybe I don’t. Maybe that’s why you didn’t tell me right away.”
“No.” Aiden shakes his head, and this time when he touches me, I don’t pull away. Because I want his touch—crave it more than I ever have. “God, Lizzie, no. I love you. Of course, you fit into this. I didn’t tell you right away because I didn’t think I could have both. I wasn’t ready to leave you, but I was scared to ask you to go with me. This is a huge step, and if I asked you to go with me, I’d be asking you to give up your entire life here. But it’s not just your life—it’s mine, too. I was trying to work it all out in my head before I came to you with it.”
“And have you? Worked it out in your head?”
“No.” Aiden cups the back of my neck. “But I know that I can’t lose you. Not over this. If you don’t want to go, then say the word. I’ll turn the job down.”
Is he serious? “You can’t put this on me. This is your dream. This is your life. I can’t ask you not to go.”
“Yes, it’s my life, but you’re the biggest part of it. You’re everything to me, Lizzie, don’t you get that? I don’t want the job if I can’t have you.”
“Well, I can’t go,” I say, matter-of-factly, tears burning my eyes. My heart aches as I shake my head. “I start work again in less than three weeks. My family is here, and Edna…she needs me. She needs us.”
Aiden’s eyes glance from me to Calvin and back to me. “About that. Edna was here earlier and, well, I’m not sure how to tell you this, so I’m just going to blurt it out. She’s moving into an assisted living facility. That’s where I just came from. I dropped her off so she could sign the paperwork.”
I reel back. “What?”
Aiden nods, and I can’t believe he has the audacity to look happy about this. “She’s moving into assisted living?”
“Did you put her up to this?” I shake my head and step out of his reach. “You did, didn’t you? This way, it would be easier for me to say yes.”
“Christ, Lizzie, give me a little credit here. Yes, it’ll make things easier for us, but it was Edna’s decision. She came to me after she’d made up her mind and paid her deposit. I had nothing to do with it.”
I feel bad for accusing him, but I’m angry and upset and confused. “Why didn’t she tell me about it? Why did she go to you?”
“Because she knew you’d be upset.”
“Wha
t am I supposed to be?” I ask, throwing my hands into the air. “Happy?”
“Supportive.”
That word stops me cold. “Of whom? You, or Edna?”
“Both of us. Lizzie”—Aiden grabs my hand and doesn’t let me pull away—“this is what I was trying to prevent. I don’t want you to have second thoughts about us. I will choose you. I will always choose you. I want to be more than boyfriend #22. I want to be your whole life. I want to be the one you come home to at the end of the day, the first one you call when something great happens in your life, and the one who gets to hold you when you cry. I want it all. And, someday, when we’re ready, I want to marry you. I want babies and a house and—”
My blood runs cold as my mind works furiously to process what he’s saying. “What did you just say?”
