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“You were sharing a blanket and laughing at whatever stupid thing he said.”
“So you left?” she asks.
“I didn’t like it.”
“That’s so juvenile. What are you, a jealous sixteen-year-old?”
I down the rest of my drink and grab the bottle of scotch. “I don’t trust him.”
“You don’t trust me.”
“And you don’t trust me.” If I haven’t convinced her over the past couple of months how much she means to me, I don’t know how I ever could.
“I—”
“What? You found a pair of panties from a woman who’s trying to get me to sleep with her. There’s no proof I was sleeping with her. I told you I was at work because I was embarrassed by how it cut me to the quick, watching you with him. He’s stolen you from me twice now. Who’s to say he won’t do it again?”
Her shoulders slump and she steps back. “He didn’t steal me from you. You pushed me away and then I got pregnant.”
“I told you not to marry him. That you didn’t need him.” My eyes narrow at her.
“And who was going to help me? You? Mister ‘I’m not ready yet but give me a few years to conquer the world and then we can be a couple’? I was young, with a shattered career, and pregnant. My parents were embarrassed enough as it was. Could you imagine what it would do to them if I hadn’t married him?”
“Look at what it did to us.” I pour scotch into my glass then down a healthy amount, desperate for anything to relieve this clawing pain in my chest. We’re right back where we always are. “All that has nothing to do with the fact that you thought I was fucking around on you. I told you I didn’t want the annulment. I’ve been honest about my feelings for you.”
“You took the ring with you this morning. You didn’t call me all day. You haven’t repeated the ‘I love you’ since the night Ryder returned. You didn’t even take me on the counter this morning when I offered myself to you.”
I run a hand through my hair and take another swig of scotch. It’s time to lay everything out for her. “I didn’t call you because in order to leave early, I had to work every minute of the day. I didn’t want to disappoint you. I worked all day with a half-hard dick because I didn’t sleep with you this morning only because again, I had work to finish so I could be there for you tonight. I’m scared to tell you how much I love you because I don’t want to scare you away and because I’m pretty sure I care more than you do. And lastly, I took the ring because I bought you that ring last summer. I was going to ask you to be my wife that morning when Max showed up!”
She’s silent, wrapping her brain about everything I just said. “But you said you hated the ring. You asked me to take it off before we had sex. I figured—”
“Because I only ever wanted you to wear it when it was real. When I had the jeweler design the ring, it was meant to symbolize that we’d finally live our lives together. I knew you’d have to have the ring for my cousin’s wedding, but I hated looking at it knowing that it wasn’t a promise of our future, it was a promise of our end.”
“Dom,” she sighs and steps forward, but I put up my hand.
“Don’t.”
She stops, tears in her eyes. “All we do is hurt one another. I hurt you.”
“I’m fine. I’ll be fine.”
“We’ll figure this out.” She touches my hand, but I pull back.
“No, we won’t. Neither one of us will trust the other long term.”
“That’s not true. I had no idea you were going to propose. I was mad that you didn’t fight for me. Why didn’t you fight for me then?”
I stare at her. “Because you had a family. And a son who deserved to have his parents back together if it was possible. I couldn’t take that away from Ryder.”
“But you have to know it’s always been you, Dom. Always.”
I press my hand to her cheek. “And it’s always been you, but we’re no good for one another. Our love was tainted from the moment I let you go, and you ran into Max’s arms. I don’t see how we can ever get back there.”
“Isn’t it worth a try?” she says, stepping closer, a lone tear running down her cheek.
“I’m not sure anymore.”
She inhales a deep breath, steps away from my touch, and turns on her heels. Grabbing her purse, she pulls out a stack of papers and tosses them on the breakfast island before swinging the purse over her shoulder. “Fine, have it your way… again.”
I have no fight left in me to stop her, so I let her leave and slam the door, acting as her final goodbye. I walk right by the annulment papers. Go figure she had another set printed and ready to go at a moment’s notice. She wants me to fight for her? Yeah, well, she should try the same sometime.
