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‘Don’t be dumb,’ he said, frustration flaring now. ‘You need the money, The Royale needs the money. I’ve got lots of it. It’s the only solution.’
‘No, it’s not. I can sell The Royale to The Rialto the way I planned.’
‘But you don’t want to sell it,’ he said, starting to get desperate. She was actually serious about this? She’d rather sell than take his money? What was wrong with his money? ‘This is your place. It belongs to you. Matty wanted you to have it.’
‘Matty was a lot of wonderful things,’ she said. ‘But a great businessman wasn’t one of them. The theatre’s my responsibility now and I’m going to sell it. This place isn’t my whole life …’ She let her gaze roam around the room, but where he would have expected sentiment, what he saw was steely resolve. ‘Not anymore. I’ve been hiding here all these years. I need to get out and build a new life for myself. A real life, instead of one that only exists in the movies. You taught me that.’ Her eyes met his, the pragmatism he saw somehow disturbing.
‘But you don’t have to do that.’ What wasn’t she getting about this? ‘Why would you sell The Royale? When I can solve the problem? When I’m offering to solve the problem?’
‘Because it’s not your problem to solve, Luke. It never was. Matty didn’t leave you a share in this theatre to save it. All he wanted was for you to love it, the way he did, because he loved your father. And now you care about The Royale. Job done. Can’t you see that’s all that matters?’
Jesus, what crap. Did she really believe this stuff?
‘I refuse to be another responsibility you don’t want,’ she said, her back straightening.
‘But I do wa
nt this one.’ Almost as much as I want you.
The thought echoed in his head.
‘No, you don’t, Luke,’ she said. ‘Because then you’d have to accept the fact that I love you.’
She said the words so simply, and with so little inflection, he almost didn’t catch them. ‘What?’
‘I love you, Luke,’ she said again, clear, precise, and still with that steely determination, as if she were revealing something terrible instead of something wonderful. ‘I think I’ve known it for a while, but until last night, until you came back, I had totally convinced myself I would never have to admit it to myself. And I certainly wouldn’t have to admit it to you. But you came back, and you ruined everything.’ She crossed her arms over her chest, her ragged breathing making his own chest hurt. ‘And now here we are,’ she continued. ‘I can’t take the money because I think the real reason you want to give it to me is you feel guilty, and I don’t want you to feel that way about us,’ she finished with a huff of breath.
She didn’t look as if she expected a reply.
Which was probably a good thing, because he didn’t know what the hell to say. He could see she meant it, one hundred and one percent, but he could also see how sad it made her. And he knew why. Because she was right.
He couldn’t feel that much. Not for Ruby, not for anyone. Because it would force him into a corner he’d spent his whole life trying to get out of.
‘I think you should leave now, Luke,’ she said.
He stared at her, the softly spoken words like a blow. He wanted to take her in his arms, to make her take the money. He didn’t want to let her throw away everything she deserved, everything she’d worked so hard for. But how could he do that now without hurting her even more?
He closed his hands into fists and shoved them into the pockets of his suit pants to control the burst of need and frustration.
He couldn’t argue with her.
Or things might be said he couldn’t take back. Emotions exposed that he didn’t want to reveal. That he didn’t know how to handle.
Emotions he didn’t even understand.
‘If that’s what you want,’ he said, giving her one last chance to change her mind.
‘I do,’ she said, her voice trembling with emotion, but still firm, still sure.
‘Then I guess this is goodbye, Ruby.’
She nodded, her face a picture of regret. A regret he could feel in his own gut, and had spent a lifetime learning to ignore. But as he walked away, he felt the knife twist as he heard her murmur behind him.
‘Goodbye, Luke.’
***
Rubes? I’m outside waiting in the rain? Where r u we’re opening in half an hour!
