“I could hope that given time you’d start enjoying the holiday, but as for sharing your past, you said the movie theater is closed. If it will never reopen, I’m at a loss as to how we can have?—”
“Hang on. Is this a demand for me to dump my grimy garbage on you?”
Her eyes widened. “That’s how you see it?”
“That’s what it is.”
“No, it’s not! Sharing your past, the good and the bad, is what normal couples do.”
“I’m not normal, okay?”
She stared at him. “Yes, you are.”
“I’m not, Mila. I’m broken. You don’t know everything about me, but you know that much. You?—”
“Everybody’s broken! You can’t get through life without taking hits. I lost two fathers, and that’s left a mark. I’ve made stupid choices, and?—”
“Like your ex?”
“Yes!”
“The one who tried to load you up with his baggage?”
“More or less, but he?—”
“And now you’re demanding I do the same?”
“It’s not the same. Not even close.”
“Of course it is. I transfer all that ugliness to you so you can carry it around and I can feel better. What a selfish?—”
“It’s not selfish, damn it! It’s how you’ll heal!”
“At your expense!”
“I love you, you idiot. What do you think love is?”
“Damned if I know.”
“It’s sharing each other’s pain!”
He mirrored her stance, crossing his arms over his chest. “Not in my world.”
Sighing, she shoved her hands in her coat pockets and glanced away. “You’re nothing like my ex. He set out to rope me in. You never would.”
“You’ve got that right.”
She met his gaze. “But don’t you see? You’re not protecting me. You’re overprotecting me. As if I’m not strong. As if I can’t handle?—”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Not in so many words, but I get the message.”
He swallowed.
“You don’t trust me.”
“I do trust you. It’s me. I don’t fudging trust myself!”
