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My eyes pop open wide. “I didn’t marry Brendan because I didn’t want to live that life!”
“The life your parents wanted for you.”
“Well, yeah!” I slap my hands against my jeans. “I called it off because I couldn’t live a lie. The money, the status – it’s not what I wanted. I didn’t love Brendan!”
“It was easier for you to walk away from that than admit that you loved me.” Bobby flips around his baseball cap. He does that all the time to make sure he can see me clearly, without the long bill shadowing his eyes.
“What are you trying to say, Bobby?” My hands are on my hips now, and the rage that had receded is now gathering force inside of me again.
“It was wrong of me to come back from Germany and ruin your wedding. I should have just stayed away.”
“No! You made me realize I was about to make the biggest mistake of my life!” I creep closer to him. “And you made me realize everything I’d been missing, too.”
“But you didn’t want that either, Steph.”
“Yes, I did, Bobby. Maybe I didn’t know it then—”
He shakes his head. “Stop. You realized it. You just didn’t want to face your parents and tell them that you left Mr. CEO for a poor, status-less, root-less rock singer who barely had enough money in his bank account to cover his rent. So instead of berating me for leaving, why don’t we talk about you?”
“You have no right to say that! I never once let you think…” My voice trails off as the impact of my words strikes me in the chest with the force of a cement brick.
“That’s what you say, but you don’t really believe those words. It’s all becoming clear now, isn’t it?” Bobby pulls off his cap and runs a hand through his hair. “You think I didn’t know how you felt about me? How you shied away from introducing me to your school friends? How you’d avoid bringing me out when you met them? How careful you were to separate your school life from me? And then how you did the same thing once you started your job?” He looks at the ground, kicking a pebble in his path. “I got it, Steph. I didn’t fit. You knew it as well as I did. And I still don’t, even with…” He sweeps his hand around, nodding toward the massive estate behind him. “Even with all this. It doesn’t amount to anything. Nothing that counts, anyway. I’m still the same guy, with the same background, and the same ideals. This doesn’t change that guy, and it doesn’t change what he can offer.”
“Bobby,” I whisper, swiping at the tears that escaped my eyes as each gut-wrenching word peppered me like a swarm of paint ball bullets. Each shot hurt worse than the last, and they’re all aimed at my heart. “I never wanted you to feel that way. I tried so hard to introduce you into my life, b-but…” I shake my head. “…I can’t even defend myself. You’re right. I was too weak to face my own feelings. My parents, my friends…I shouldn’t have cared what they all thought. None of it ever changed the way I felt about you.”
“No, but it just made you push farther away from me. You may not have wanted to, but deep down, you knew it was the right move for you and your future.” The corners of Bobby’s lips curl into a smile, but there’s no joy in his expression. And the words he just uttered – God, they just sliced away at my insides. Sadness washes over me like a tsunami, swallowing me whole, eroding all hopes and dreams…all because I was weak. Am weak. No wonder why he fucked Tia. She probably accepted him with open arms. She doesn’t care where he came from. She only cares about where he’s going…a place that clearly doesn’t include me.
I have to fix this. There must be a way. He needs to believe me…believe in me.
Except the look on his face tells me with no uncertainty that our time has passed.
“Don’t look at me like that, Bobby. I’m here because I’m not willing to let you leave me. You can’t,” I whisper. “Please give me another chance.”
“Until when? You decide that I’m still not enough for you? That we have no common ground? That I’m going to be dead weight because I can’t be part of the life you crave?”
“That’s not fair!” I blink fast to clear my blurred vision. My breath escapes in short, harsh gasps. I am in full-blown hysterics. I reach out and grasp his arm, but he makes no move to shrug off my tight grip. His gaze slowly rises, and once his green eyes meet mine, the tears fall faster. A flash of light in the distance momentarily blinds me, and I squint, holding up my free hand to block the stream of flashing lights that follow. Fucking paparazzi. They aren’t even on the property, but that doesn’t stop them from taking in our scene. I have absolutely no shame right now as I beg for a chance with LA’s newest and most sought-after bachelor.
And I’m sure that’s what the gossip rags will report tomorrow.
I hope the actual headlines will be more forgiving than the ones racing through my mind.
Somehow, I doubt it. People don’t go nuts over happy endings. They want drama. They like to read about seedy pasts and tarnished reputations. Happiness isn’t on their radar.
But I don’t care who’s watching. I don’t care about what I’ve left behind in Long Island. I don’t care about anything, except the man standing in front of me…the one I’ve known for the past eight years, the one I’ve loved for just as long. “I’m sorry if I hurt you. I was too blind to see what was right in front of me, and I’ll never make that mistake again. Just…please come home with me, Bobby. You don’t need to prove anything to me. I-I…” I take a gulp of air and brace myself for words that should have been spoken long ago. “I love you. I always have.” I creep closer until there is less than an inch of space between us. The flashes are snapping incessantly at this point, and I know what they want.
But is it what Bobby wants?
