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“That we’ve turned a little stale.”
“Maybe a little,” she said.
“You don’t want that.”
She shook her head. “Jerry did get up and go to work every day. He came home and kissed me like I kissed you this morning. He might ask me about the farm a little, or how the salon was. But he didn’t reallycare.” She looked up at him, earnestness in her eyes. “I know you care, Ty. There’s a big difference.”
“We still can’t agree on what restaurant to go to in the evening.”
“Okay.”
“I sometimes feel like you only keep me around to make sure the house is going to go through.”
She gasped and stepped away from him. Her hands fell back to her sides, and she blinked a couple of times. “That is not true.”
He lifted his chin. “Then, what’s your plan, Sage?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Why is this house so important to you? If we’re together—you’re not new to this. People date to get married. Unless you don’t want to get married? What do—what do you want?”
Maybe she didn’t even want to get married. Maybe she wanted her waterfront house, and she’d keep him around, but she didn’t want him as a husband.
“I’ve never been married,” he said. “I’m—I’d like to get married.”
Her eyebrows went up again.
“Not right now,” he said. “I’m not saying I want to marry you, but I date to get married. That’s my end-goal. I guess I need to know what yours is.”
“I didn’t have a good marriage,” she said.
“You’ve told me.”
“I don’t even know what that looks like.”
“Then we’re on the same playing field.”
Sage reached up and ran her hand through her hair, the sigh that came from her mouth frustrated. “I don’t know, Ty. I’m not thinking that far ahead, to be honest.”
“At least it’s the truth,” he said.
“I like you a lot,” she said. “I don’t want to break up.”
“I don’t want that either,” he said. “But I do need to know what you’re feeling and thinking. I can’t read your mind, and it’s unfair of you to make me try.”
She folded her arms. “I’m not making you try to read my mind.”
“Okay,” he said. “So…dinner tonight?”
“It’s Supper Club tonight,” she reminded him. “That’s why you have T-shirts above my microwave, so we can have breakfast on Thursdays together.”
A smile twitched against the corners of his mouth. “So you want me to stay.”
“I don’t want you to leave.”
“I’ll order those bacon and egg sandwiches.” He took a step toward her, his skin itching to be next to hers again. “And kiss you until they get here?”
She tipped her head back and laughed, the sound filling the apartment and Ty’s heart. He’d had plenty of difficult conversations with clients, colleagues, and even exes. Sage, for some reason, had been harder, probably because he wanted her to like and respect him after all the words got said.
