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I exhaled, turned to him, and he studied me, jaw muscles flexing beneath his beard. “I’m not angry because I felt like something could have happened.”
“Then what are you angry about?”
“I’mnotangry.” I met his eyes. “I’m just confused about what all that was.”
“My life is complicated, Jhorie.”
“I get that…”
“But?” He held my gaze and I could see the agitation building again, like he was anticipating what I might say.
“It’s just a lot and we’re not together. You handled the situation like we are.”
His eyes met mine again. “Would that be so terrible?”
“What?”
“Us, being together.”
I blinked at him several times before I found some sense.
“No, but you just got divorced.”
“From a woman who I did not love. Who did not love me. I don’t need time to move on, Jhorie. I’ve been over my marriage for years now.”
I didn’t have an argument for that. His gaze turned even more intense and he followed with, “But you’re not over your ex, are you?”
“What? No! I am. I already told you we don’t want the same things.”
“He wantsyouand I’d bet that after seeing you with me tonight, he would be willing to give you whatever the fuck you asked for.”
“He might but I also meant what I said, I no longer want those things withhim.”
“If I was offering them, would you accept?”
I choked out a laugh but his expression didn’t change. He was serious. In what world did a man offer up marriage and kids like it was as simple as saying, “good morning, would you like cream and sugar with your coffee”?
In his world.
A world where families arranged marriages for money, power, and political gain.
“You can’t be serious right now.”
“I’m very serious, Jhorie. You want to be married. You want children, stability, and happiness. All of which I want as well.”
“I do, but you’re saying it like I can walk down the aisle of a superstore and add those items to my shopping cart. That’s not how it works.”
“No, it’s not but it’s also not impossible when two people want the same things out of life and are willing to negotiate.”
“You’re serious.”
“Very.”
“You’re offering me those things?”
“I am.”
“Why?”
