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“I’m sorry.”
Nice way to begin a conversation. She wasn’t going to hit me on the head with that piece of hard-as-a-rock toast in her hand.
She totally wasn’t.
“As you should be. But you’re being sorry for the wrong reasons.”
I stared at her, completely out of my depth. That was a new thing for me.
How often would you meet a dude with a PhD and years of experience in psychology, gaping like a dead fish, with no idea what was going on in the mind of the person next to him?
Not too often.
“Rory, I—”
She cut me off. As she should have.
“Look. I’m going to give you the chance to talk. God knows, there’s a lot of shit I need to understand. But before any of that, I just wanted to say that I think you...” She paused and adjusted her watch.
“I think you’ve been through a shitload of stuff, Noah. And I don’t blame you for keeping any secrets. Not after what happened with Emma and you.”
My heart was racing. She... she wasn’t mad at me. Not about Emma, at any rate.
“I don’t care that you didn’t tell me you were engaged. If this were a normal conversation where the relationship didn’t work because that’s life sometimes, it would be okay.”
She sighed before continuing. “I’m not saying it wouldn’t sting a little. I mean, I’m human...”
That pulled a smile from my lips.
“Rory...” I opened my mouth, but she silenced me with a mere wave of her hand.
“Wait until I’m done, okay? Don’t be a baby.”
I closed my mouth immediately, feeling like I was getting schooled. What a time for new experiences.
“What hurt me is that you knew I was being targeted by the same asshole. And if you’d told me, I would have... I don’t know what I’d do, but I’d understand things better. And I’d find a way. Not alone, but with all of you. To stop this from happening.”
This was when I began shaking my head vehemently. “I can’t let you do that, Rory.”
Her eyes widened. Resistance. Oh, fuck.
“You can’tletme?” she whispered. She sounded like a long hiss. I knew I was about to get it now.
“What do you mean, you can’t let me? What makes you think you can sit there and be this person, Professor Evans?”
Ah, she'd put me on a formal last-name basis. Even better.
“Rory.” I tried to make her understand, flailing my arms around desperately. Some students threw curious glances at us, but I was beyond caring.
“The reason I didn’t tell you was this. Yes, I was also afraid of how you’d react, but primarily? Look, when I lost Emma, do you know why I couldn’t stop blaming myself?”
Rory paused. She wanted me to talk. Okay.
“I—I was the one who told her she could stand up to that madman, okay? When... the night that all of that happened to her, I was on a case. I’ll never forget it, Rory, I...”
My eyes burned as I tried to push the memory away. It was no good. It threatened to spill over and drown me.
“It was raining so hard that night, Rory.” My voice fell. “I’d gone to help one of my patients who’d had a panic attack. It was an emergency. But if I’d known...”
