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“The way you described him. The way he did so much for you, even when you didn’t want him to. I know that sort of thing can make a girl like you crazy, but you have to understand why he does it. Moving here on a dime, getting this house, doing everything in his power to make you happy, comfortable and safe... Those aren’t the actions of a man who feels obligated because of the child. Those are the actions of a man so desperately in love with a woman that he will do anything and everything to see her smile.”
Amelia shook her head. She wished her grandmother was right, but it just couldn’t be true. “He’s not in love with me, Grandma. He left. He wouldn’t have walked out if he’d loved me.”
“I thought you loved all the fairy tales with the big romantic gestures? The Little Mermaid, The Gift of the Magi, Beauty and the Beast... In each of those stories, the character sacrifices the most valued thing in their life for the one they love. If you think Tyler left because he didn’t care, you’re a fool. He left, and gave you up, because he thought that was what you wanted.”
Amelia felt the dull ache of regret start to pool in her stomach. Was it possible she had driven away the man who loved her, the man she loved, because she was too blind to see the truth?
And more important...would he ever forgive her?
Twelve
Tyler hesitated only a moment before turning the knob and opening the front door of the home he used to share with Amelia. He could see the lights on in the kitchen, but the rest of the house was dark and empty. “Amelia?” he called, hoping not to startle her. “Hello?”
No one answered, so he traveled down the corridor to the kitchen. Amelia was standing at the counter, her wary eyes watching him as he came in. Apparently she’d heard him but hadn’t had anything to say. Or didn’t know what to say. Either way, she wasn’t about to leap into his arms and kiss him. That was disappointing. At the same time, she hadn’t immediately thrown him out either, so he’d count his blessings.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi.”
She looked better than she had at the hospital. Her color was vastly improved and she didn’t look nearly as tired. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail, a casual look that went well with her little T-shirt and jeans. The rest of her was anything but casual. Her whole body was stiff. She had a bottle of wine clutched with white-knuckled intensity in one hand, the opener in the other.
“Would you like some wine?” she offered. “I was just about to open it.”
“Sure, thanks. Let me—” he s
tarted, and then stopped. His instinct was to offer to open it, but that was the wrong tactic with Amelia. She hadn’t wanted to be helped with everything when she was pregnant; she certainly wouldn’t want to be coddled when she wasn’t. “I’ll get some glasses,” he said instead.
He went to the cabinet and fetched two glasses. By the time he returned, Amelia had the bottle open. He held them by the stems as she poured them each a healthy serving.
“Would you like to go sit outside?” she asked. “It’s been a pretty warm day. It would be a shame to move out of here without at least taking advantage of the backyard once.”
“Okay.” Tyler followed her through the door to the backyard he hadn’t set foot in since he toured the home with the real estate agent. There was a kidney-shaped pool and hot tub with a waterfall to one side. A fire pit was surrounded by stone benches just off the patio. To the right was a large stretch of lawn that would’ve been perfect for a swing set someday.
The thought brought a painful pang to the back of his mind. Since he’d left the hospital, he’d done the same thing Amelia accused him of doing after his breakup with Christine—he’d thrown himself into his work so he didn’t have to think about everything he’d lost. He’d grabbed his computer and a suitcase full of clothes and toiletries and hopped the first plane back to New York. He’d bypassed his empty apartment and gone straight to the offices, where he’d worked until he was blurry eyed and hallucinating at his computer screen. The next morning, he got up and did it again.
Today, he’d woken up missing the warmth of her body only inches away on the mattress beside him. He’d wanted to make her a smoothie and kiss her as she headed out the door. Then he’d realized he was a bigger coward than he’d accused her of being. He got back on a plane to Nashville and came straight to the house to tell Amelia how he felt. Which he would do. Any second now. If he could just figure out how to tell Amelia how he felt.
She’d already rejected him once. He wasn’t too excited to stick his neck back out again and get his head chopped off, but he knew he had to. He’d regret this for the rest of his life if he didn’t.
Amelia strolled out to the stone fire pit and sat down on one of the benches. Tyler resisted the urge to give her personal space and sat right beside her. He leaned forward and turned on the switch the agent had shown him, and there was suddenly a raging fire in the gas fireplace. It was just enough to take the mid-March chill out of the air.
“Nice,” Amelia said, leaning in to warm her face. “As much as I complained, I am going to miss this place. It’s going to be hard to go back to my tiny, plain apartment after this. We never even got to use the movie theater.”
Tyler nodded, but the words fighting to get out of him made it hard for him to focus on conversation. “How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Okay. I’m still sore and achy, but I’ll live,” she joked with a small smile. “How are you?”
Tyler sighed. That was a loaded question, or at the very least, a loaded answer. “I am...a little numb. A little overwhelmed. Sad. But mostly, I’m feeling guilty.”
“You shouldn’t feel guilty, Tyler. It wasn’t anybody’s fault.”
“I know. But there are plenty of other things that I am responsible for. I told my brother about us when I shouldn’t have. I said things to you that were hurtful. And I walked away from you when every fiber of my being was screaming at me to stay.”
He could sense Amelia stiffening beside him. She hastily took a sip of her wine before she responded, “I told you to go,” she said, her voice flat and emotionless.
“You did. But since when have I ever done what you’ve told me to do?”
Amelia snorted softly, covering her mouth with her hand to smother it. “Practically never.”
