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Zoe ignored her. Not even her romance-loving mother could do anything to make Zoe feel better at the moment.
“What do you want, Dale?” she asked and focused on the top button of his shirt rather than his eyes.
“Zoe, I—” he began and came closer.
She held out a hand. “Stay where you are. You can say what you came to say from over there.”
Dale stopped. “I’m sorry about the things I’ve accused you of. You were right—I was freaked out by what was happening between us and I used the first excuse to push you away. But—”
“Dale, save it. Apology accepted. We had a fling or whatever you want to call it. It’s over. And I’m actually glad I’m not under contract with you anymore, it will give me more time for the other projects we’re working on. We don’t have to see one another too often. Maybe the odd Christmas, but I’m sure we could handle that. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m cold, I want to take a shower. Good day,” she said and turned to leave.
*
Dumbfounded, Dale staredat Zoe’s retreating back.
What the hell? With two long strides, he reached her and turned her around to face him. “I am not leaving before I’ve said what I’ve come here to say.”
Zoe looked at him through narrowed eyes. “You’ve apologized, what more do you want to say?”
“I love you,” he blurted out. “That’s what I’ve come here to say. I. Love. You.” He said each of the words slowly, waiting for her to swallow, to blink, to show some sort of response.
Zoe cocked her head. “Oh, you love me? So now what? You want a few more romps in bed?” She sighed. “Look, Dale, sooner or later you’re going to find another excuse not to be with me. It happens. Men don’t stick around. I know that. So, thank you, but no thanks.” She turned around and stormed out of the room.
Bewildered, Dale stared after her. What the bloody hell?
Zoe’s mother opened the kitchen door. “Did you tell her?”
“Yes, I told her, but she’s stormed away,” he said and put his hands on his hips.
An emptiness filled his heart. She obviously didn’t feel the same way. Somehow he’d never factored that possibility into the whole thing.
“What exactly did you say to her?” Zoe’s mother asked and slowly came closer.
“That I love her. I said the words. But she clearly doesn’t feel the same way,” he muttered and looked around for his car keys. “I’m sorry that I’ve bothered you.”
Zoe’s mother sighed dramatically. “Oh, you men!” she called out, exasperated. “Let me walk you out.”
Dale turned and walked out of the room, out of the house, out of Zoe’s life. This was it.
“I thought you knew what you had to tell her,” Zoe’s mother said, and he stopped halfway down the stairs.
“What more could I say?” he asked, fed up, hurt and upset.
“Did you tell her you want her in your life? Permanently?”
“I’ve told her I love her,” he called out, his frustration boiling over. “Surely that implies the rest!”
Zoe’s mother smiled and patted his shoulder. “You’ll figure out what to do, but”—she sighed and smiled—“because you’re a man, it’s probably going to take you a while, and in the meantime, my Zoe is hurting. I’m going to put my nose where it doesn’t belong and will spell out for you what needs to be done. And I’ll talk to your mother.”
“My mother?” Dale asked, flabbergasted. “What does she have to do with anything?”
“Everything, of course! This is what you have to do, and I know just the place where it all should happen,” Zoe’s mother said enthusiastically and began explaining.
*
Even though shewas trying not to cry, the tears simply streamed down her cheeks, mixing with the water from the shower. Giving up, Zoe leaned against the wall and sobbed on her arm. Loved her? He didn’t know what that meant, the idiot!
Coming here and telling her he loved her when… She lifted her head and stared at the tiles for long minutes while the water still sprayed down on her. He told her he loved her. In so many words. He’d flown all the way from Mahé, had driven all the way from Cape Town to come and tell her that. She’d been so hurt about the way he’d stormed out of her life, so angry at him that she hadn’t really comprehended what he told her minutes ago.
