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“Nothing.” I just can’t believe you’d do that for me. It’s confusing. Too confusing to contemplate. “I’m sure I’ve got enough things here. If not, I’ll buy whatever I need. It shouldn’t be very much, and I can just about afford it.”
He frowns. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t have a job, Hunter. You fired me, remember?”
“I know, but…”
“Please… I don’t want to get into this now.” I pick up the bag. “Thank you for bringing this.”
“That’s okay.” I step away, moving toward my parents, but he calls me back and I turn to him. “Tell me we’re not over, Livia… please?”
That feels like a very unfair question. “You can’t ask me that now. You said you’d give me time.”
He nods his head. “Okay… I’m sorry.”
I walk toward him again, looking up into his eyes. He looks so sad, I want to hold him, but I can’t. “I’ve never been in a situation like this before,” I say, struggling to speak. “I—I’ve never been hurt.”
“And you think I have? You can only be hurt by someone you love… and I’ve never loved anyone but you.”
“I know. But I didn’t hurt you. You hurt me, and now I don’t know what to do, Hunter. I don’t know how to feel.”
“Then let me help you.”
I shake my head. “Not this time. You’ve helped me with everything else, but I need to work this out by myself.”
“Okay. If that’s what it’s gonna take, I’ll give you some time.” He reaches out, caressing my cheek with his fingertips. I almost moan out loud, but I hold it in. “And even if you didn’t answer my question, I’m gonna tell you… we’re not over, baby. I’m coming back for you.”
He turns and walks away, climbing into his car and driving off.
I get inside the house before my tears really start to fall, but almost immediately, I feel my mom’s arms come around me.
“It’s okay,” she whispers.
I look up into her eyes. “I did the right thing, didn’t I?”
“If you’re not ready to talk to him yet, then yes, you did the right thing.”
“I just need to think, Mom. I need to be sure that when I go back to him, we’re both doing it for the right reasons.”
“At least you said ‘when’, not ‘if’.”
“Now I’ve seen him, I know I want him back. But we can’t rush at it. I have to be sure of him. After everything he said before, I have to know he means what he’s saying now.”
“I’m sure he does.” I turn at the sound of Dad’s voice. He’s standing by the door, having made his own way in, and Mom rushes to him, helping him take the last steps. “I know I was kinda harsh with him just now, but you’re still my little girl, and I’m always gonna be harsh with anyone who doesn’t put you first.”
I wander over and put my arms around his waist, leaning against him.
“You have to remember, love’s a two-way street,” Mom says. I turn to see she’s glancing at Dad, her eyes sparkling, before she looks back at me again. “You have to allow for the other person’s insecurities… because I think that’s what we’re talking about here.”
“It sounded that way to me,” Dad says, and I nod my head.
“His mom left when he was eleven, and although he doesn’t blame her, I think he felt abandoned.” He always sounded that way whenever he spoke about it.
“His relationship with his father can’t have been easy, either,” Mom says.
I shake my head. “Hunter never got along with him, even before his mom left. Afterwards, they rarely saw each other, although I don’t think that was a bad thing. From what Hunter’s told me, I think Theodore Bennett was probably a very cruel man.”
“I’m not gonna argue with that,” Mom says. “I didn’t know him very well, but he was ruthless in his pursuit of me, when he thought I was guilty of helping Ken, and when it came to taking back the property he considered was rightfully his…” She shudders and Dad moves over, letting her nestle against him.
