He looked her dead in the eyes. “I need you.” There was power in the words and intensity in his expression.
She broke the contact of their hands and took a step back, thrusting her fingers into the hip pockets of her overalls. “Technically, no. You don’t need me.” And under no circumstances could she cave and become the needy one. If she did, she’d never forgive herself. “I have to stay here and work and you’ll do just fine without me. You have friends, a large family, a whole world who adores you.”
“But you are the only one that I adore.”
Don’t weaken, she ordered herself. “Be that as it may, you don’t owe me anything. Including an explanation as to why you’re going.”
He gave her a look like,What are you talking about?“Of course I owe you an explanation.”
“Again—not technically, no.”
His lips flattened.
Emotionally, she was overreacting to the news that he was going. She knew it and yet she couldn’t seem to tamp her internal overreaction down. It was clearer than ever in this moment that the size of her love for him made her vulnerable. He had the power to hurt her, badly. Which wasterrifying. Perhaps best to use this opening to make her position clear to him and try to shore up her own cracks. “You’re free to stay or go,” she stated. “It’s not as if we’re boyfriend and girlfriend.”
His eyebrows slanted. Obviously, he wasn’t in the mood to acknowledge how noble she was being. He had a tremendously long fuse. Five times as long as her own. However, she could see that she’d now succeeded in stirring his anger and lighting that fuse. “Weareboyfriend and girlfriend, Remy.”
“You’re recovering well from the amnesia now. It could be that this whole interlude—living here, kissing me—will soon begin to seem strange to you and that you’ll then want your actual life in Groomsport and your actual girlfriend.”
“Living here and kissing you will always seem like the rightest thing in my life because youaremy actual girlfriend.”
“I haven’t agreed to that. How can I when it's so hard to imagine how this relationship could work out well for you and me?”
He scowled. “Here’s how. We get engaged. We get married. But before any of that can happen, you have to commit to me enough to be my girlfriend.”
She gaped at him. Engagement and marriage? “You can see yourself marrying me?” she asked incredulously.
“Yes.”
It was all well and good for Jeremiah to toy with the idea of happily ever after! He was the one who could survive the end of this. He, so cavalier and popular, didn’t love her so he was free to indulge his whims. “You can afford to play house on Islehaven if it suits your fancy. I can't afford that. You're—you're acting like all of this is simple when it's not.”
“Thisissimple for me.”
“And for me it's anything but. I'm not fancy enough or outgoing enough for you. I'm scared to leave Islehaven, but as your girlfriend I'd need to leave it often. For what purpose, though? Since I'm unlikely to fit into your world once I get there.”
“I’ll change my world to fit you.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“I would do anything for you, Remy.”
She thrust away a tendril of her hair. Jeremiah's blind confidence was maddening! Reckless. Foolish. He wasn't acknowledging—nor even seeming to hear—her concerns. “Alexis was basically the female version of you.”
“Did you notice how badly things went for Alexis and me? That is no longer what I want.”
“The Camdens represent everything I don’t like, which is a huge red flag for me.”
“I wish I only came with upsides. I don’t.” His jaw set like granite as he scratched the back of his neck. His arms dropped. “I was raised under a microscope of scandal. I’ve never had anonymity and I never will. My parents are difficult. My wife cheated on me. My driving ability faded so I gave up my career. Alexis died. I lost my memories. And all of that has only made me more determined to prioritize this.” He motioned between them. “Us. I don’t bring perfection and I’m not asking you to bring perfection.”
Remy swallowed hard. Tears were stinging behind her eyes.
“I want to be with you,” he said. “I have flaws. But if you’ll accept those, I’ll give up whatever I need to for you. Will you do the same for me?”
As upset as she was, she saw the fairness of his question. For several weeks after meeting him, she’d made numerous sacrifices for him. But since she’d returned to Islehaven, he’d made all the sacrifices and she’d made none. That wasn’t how a healthy relationship functioned. Both partners had to bend and give things up for the other.
She understood that. So why was her heart drumming much too fast with panic? All these feelings wereoverwhelming. Her need to detach from them and withdraw was visceral. “What are you asking me to give up?”
“Some of your isolation and some of your control. In order to make room for me. So we can try for something bigger together.”
