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“And you think you’re the one who can make her happy?”
“Yes,” I said. “With your help.”
She took a sip of her coffee, a cue for me to keep going.
“I love her more than anything,” I said, using words with an intensity I didn’t realize I had in me. “I’ve never felt this way about anybody. If she needed me to move mountains for her, that’s what I would do.”
“But you can’t move mountains,” Mila said.
“I would for her.”
“Cut the crap,” Mila said. “You’re feeding me words. You can’t literally move a mountain, so it’s an empty promise. And it’s just words. Anybody could say them.”
It didn’t feel like I’d gotten her on my team. It felt like she wanted to make me an adversary.
“I’m sorry,” I said, “did I say something wrong?”
“No,” Mila said. “What you’re doing wrong is saying something to begin with.”
I played the sentence back in my mind a few times, trying to parse it and what she might have meant by it, but got no closer.
“I don’t understand.”
“Actions speak louder than words, Wesley,” she said.
I looked at her skeptically. “I drove her to the hospital,” I said. “I waited for her. I made sure that the house she was responsible for sold, even at a risk to my career. I tracked her down to your apartment, violating privacy laws to do it.”
I began feeling myself get defensive and, as I was talking, Mila just shook her head.
“I don’t mean I was doing any of this for brownie points, of course,” I said, “but every time she needed me for something, I was there, and I did it.”
“I’ll level with you,” she said. “I think you’re great. I think you’re probably the best thing that’s ever happened to Sloane. I’d kill for a guy to be as devoted to me as you are for her. But I’m not her. And she demands more than me.”
“I’m listening.”
“Good,” Mila said, with a slightly smug look on her face, “you might even want to take notes.”
I reached in my jacket pocket for a notebook, but she stopped me.
“I’m joking, but pay attention.” She folded her hands on the table and looked directly at me. “Most women, you buy them roses for their birthday and Valentine’s Day and remember your anniversary, you’re doing pretty good, but that doesn’t mean anything to Sloane. Any ape could do that, so long as they have a calendar and access to a flower shop.”
“Bradley Burke did that?”
“No,” Mila said. “Of course not. I guess I should have specified a reasonably intelligent ape. But, either way, you’re better than that and you need to prove it to her. What you need to do is find a way to show that you’re serious. And it can’t just be an empty gesture that you could just as easily take back somewhere down the line.”
Mila stopped for a second as she composed her thoughts. “Here’s what it is: to her, you’re too good to be true. And that’s terrifying if she doesn’t have the confidence that everything is as great as it seems. She’s afraid you’re going to leave her.”
“She’s afraid I’m going to leave her and that’s why she refuses to talk to me? How much sense does that make?”
Mila pointed to her head. “Up here, it makes zero sense.” She pointed to her heart. “Down here, it’s obvious. Leaving you is putting a shield around her heart so that you can’t hurt her. It’s a form of protection.”
“But I need to prove to her that she doesn’t need to protect her heart with me,” I said. “She can give it all to me and I’ll keep it safe.”
“Exactly.”
“But how do I do that?” I asked.
Mila finished her coffee and looked at her watch. “You’re on your own with that one,” she said. “Even if I could tell you, it would defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it? She’s thinking with her heart instead of her head and you need to do the same if you want to win her back.”
