Take a Chance on Me(68)

She balled up the ripped-to-pieces tissue. “You made it impossible for me to say no.”

His brows furrowed as his jaw hardened into a stubborn line. “You had us stuck in dating hell, what did you expect me to do?”

“You emotionally manipulated me.”

“No. I took control of the situation. What difference does six months or a year make?”

The temper she’d been containing for years rose to the surface. Through gritted teeth, she said, “The difference was I wasn’t ready.”

“We weren’t getting any younger and you were stalling.” He smoothed a hand over his blond hair. “I pushed you. So what?”

She closed her eyes and counted to five before opening them again. “So nothing. It’s over. We’re over.”

His gaze narrowed, the blue glinting. “You’ll have to do better than me nudging you down a path we were already on.”

She blew out a breath and said softly, “I wasn’t happy. Isn’t that a compelling enough argument?”

“You should have come to me when you started having doubts. You know sometimes you get depressed.”

She wanted to scream at him that she’d only been depressed when her father had died, but that wasn’t the point. “And what if I’d come to you? Then what?”

“I could have fixed things.”

With those five little words, everything about their relationship became crystal clear. He didn’t love her any more than she loved him. He’d needed something to fix and she’d been broken. Only she was tired of the pattern and he still wanted to force her into the mold. “I don’t want to be your project anymore.”

“Don’t be silly.” A muscle ticked in his jaw.

“I don’t think you even like me.” Like most profound revelations, it was painfully obvious, once one was smacked in the face with the truth.

“That’s preposterous. I love you.”

“Name one thing you love about me.”

His knuckles whitened as he clasped his hands tightly together. “You’re acting crazy. I love everything about you.”

“You can’t do it, can you?”

“Of course I can. If I didn’t love you, why did I stick with you all these years?”

“I don’t know. You’ll have to answer that for yourself.” That was his job to figure out, but she knew it was true, deep down in the pit of her stomach.

“What are you saying?”

“I can’t marry you. Not now. Not ever.” She spoke the words with so much conviction that they rang with a truth even Steve couldn’t deny. “It’s not your job to fix me anymore.”

“I’m sure we can work this out,” he said, but his voice had lost its strength and its smug certainty.

“No, we can’t.”

“Why?”

She met his gaze. “Because I don’t want to.”

All the background noise dimmed and the diner seemed to still as several long moments passed.

He lowered his eyes and stared down at the table.

“I’m tired of playing it safe,” she said, the words gentle with compassion.

He gave a frown, followed by a twist of his lips. “You know better than anyone the danger in that statement.”

It was the first mean thing he’d said to her, and it was like a stab in the heart. It rocked her to the very core, resonating with everything she had understood about herself since her dad had died.

But it didn’t break her, didn’t change her mind.

“I’m not afraid anymore.” To her shock, she realized it was true.

“So that’s it? No more discussion.”

“I’m sorry.”

He took a deep breath, slowly exhaling. “When are you coming home?”

“I don’t know,” she said, picking up another napkin and blotting under her lashes. “But it’s no longer your concern.”

“There’s nothing I can do, is there?”

She looked into the eyes of the man who’d been a part of her life for so long that she couldn’t remember a time without him, and she saw it: resignation. Acceptance.

A weight lifted from her chest and she spoke the words that would set them free. “There’s nothing left to do but say good-bye.”





Chapter Eighteen



Mitch watched Maddie walk out of Earl’s with a tall, good-looking blond man.

The fiancé. Mitch didn’t know what he’d been expecting, but it sure as hell wasn’t the guy standing on the sidewalk not twenty feet away from him.

Her red hair blew in the breeze as she looked up at the man and nodded. The man frowned and raised a hand as if to touch her.

Mitch gripped the steering wheel so tightly that he was surprised it didn’t shatter under the pressure. Raw, turbulent emotions rammed through him like the fiercest of storms, threatening to engulf him until he was all reaction and no logic.

The fiancé’s hand dropped away.

Charlie’s words came rushing back at him: You never f*cking learn.

Mitch fought the urge to jump out of the car and break every bone in the guy’s body. Possessive, almost feral, jealousy unlike anything he’d ever experienced before in his life locked around his throat and wouldn’t let go.