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“I was going to call, but I figured it would be better to do this in person.” Her voice is low and quiet, and I have to fight the urge to start crying already.
I’m trying to get her to just look at me. I need her eye contact to ease my worries, but she won’t look at me.
“What’s going on?” Clay asks, still standing by the back of the couch.
Eden looks up. “I ran into Jade’s dad today. He didn’t seem to know that you two are dating.”
“He’s my boss,” Clay replies, not taking his eyes off Eden.
“Since November, you’ve been lying to him about your relationship,” she replies.
“It’s fine,” I say with a smile.
“It’s not fine,” Eden snaps. “How can we possibly start a relationship like this if we’re still lying to each other?”
“We’re not lying,” I say, still wishing she’d just look at me.
“Yes, we are,” she replies. This time her voice shakes, and I can see how hard this is. I wish she’d just stop fighting and let us love her. We don’t need to ruin it just because of a few little secrets. We love each other enough to overcome that.
Then she finally looks into my eyes. “Jade, we never told Clay that we saw each other for weeks before he started joining us.”
Her gaze turns to him. “And we never told Jade just how serious our relationship was. That you were more than my client. We were in love.”
My lips part to say something, but it’s all too much.
“I knew,” I cry out, tears leaking into my lashes. “I’m not stupid. I knew you two had a relationship. So we can get over this. We don’t need to end it.”
“But don’t you see, Jade?” she asks, her eyes pleading as they bore into mine. “I claim to hold honesty and trust so high, but I’m the one lying. I’m the one holding secrets. I’m the one who broke Clay’s heart over six months ago. I’m terrible at this. I can’t do this.”
Her expression is pure anguish, and I want to run to her. I can’t stand this.
“We love each other,” I say as I kneel on the floor at her feet. I take her hands in mine and convince myself I can make her forget everything. “We can forgive each other, Eden.”
She lets me hold her hands, but she doesn’t clutch them in return. She just hangs her head. I see the bags under her eyes, proof of her tears.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbles softly. “But I think we need to just…take a break. Rethink this. I have to make the right choice for my son, and I can’t rush into things just because they’re fun or they feel good.”
“A break. It’s not over, though,” I say, biting my lip as I stare up at her with hope.
“It’s over,” Clay barks from behind me. The anger in his tone is obvious. “Let it go, Jade. When she says it’s over, it’s over.”
Eden’s gaze lifts. As she stares at him, I see the months of pain and regret etched in her features.
“You’re in charge, right?” he says with bitterness. “At the first sign of trouble, you bail. You claim you do this to protect yourself and the people you love but look at us, Eden. Don’t you care about us?” he asks, looking hurt. “How long are you going to keep pushing people away? And what good is this to Jack?”
“Stop it,” she snaps, glaring up at him.
“You’ve kept him so sheltered his entire life he latched on to the first person who gave him an ounce of attention.”
“Stop fighting,” I say as I climb off the floor and put out a hand to keep Clay from saying something he’ll regret.
“Keep Jack out of this,” Eden says heatedly. “Besides, do you really have any room to talk?” she asks. “Did you really love me at all, or was I just a woman who offered to give you the attention you were missing from your mother?”
He clenches his jaw and turns away from her.
“Eden,” I call out, reaching for her to stop. “Don’t say that.”
“Let her, Jade. It’s over anyway. She’ll make sure of that,” Clay mutters angrily.
