She gestured to the cottage. “Thisismy definition of a big life. You know me well enough to know that this life makes me happy.”
“I know you well enough to know that it makes you safe,” he said. “But also, ultimately, empty.”
Empty! Defensiveness rushed to its feet inside her like a battalion of soldiers. “That’s not true. Just because a woman doesn’t have a boyfriend or husband doesnotmean her life is empty.”
“Your life isn’t empty because you don’t have a man in it. It’s empty because you’re hiding.” His tone was forceful but level. He’d always been the more self-disciplined of the two of them. He had composure in spades and Remy wanted to tear tracks in it with her fingernails.
“This is how I healed from what Gavin did to me. What right do you have to judge how I healed?”
“I judge it because I care and because I’m angry that you’re letting Gavin win.”
She opened her mouth, but shock and fury stole her words.
What did he just say?That she’dlet Gavin win.
Was that what he thought of her? Was he busy viewing her as a beaten rabbit, quaking in her burrow while she was simultaneously viewing herself as strong and brave? Thathurt. That cut her deeply. Believing that Gavin had won completely belittled the strides and victories she'd made. Gavin might have won in court, but he had not won. And if Jeremiah were truly on her side, he'd understand that.
She felt whiplashed by this conversation. By his romantic words followed by his accusing words.Time to put space between you and him, an inner voice demanded.Better now than later. Wait and you’ll be even more head-over-heels invested in him than you already are.
“I’m asking you to take a chance on me,” he said bluntly. “And I realize that’s risky for you. But I’m telling you that I won’t let you down. Do you trust me?”
“How can I ever trust the person who just accused me ofletting Gavin win?”
Color rushed up his face. “Remy—”
“No. No more.” She’d reached her limit and now must end this. “I think it would be best if you leave.”
He remained stock-still, hectic suffering in his gaze.
She played her ace in the hole. “When I asked Gavin to leave, he didn’t listen. Will you listen?”
He walked slowly to the door. After pulling it open, he turned. “I’ve hurt you and I’m sorry. When can we talk about this?”
“I don’t know.” Her voice broke. She stiffened her posture. “But I need your assurance that you’ll give me room to figure it out. I can’t do pressure from you. Not through texts, not through phone calls, not through surprise appearances. If you respect me, you’ll give me room and time. Okay?”
There was so much pain in his face and in her chest that she honestlycould notbear it.
“Okay.”
Then he was gone. And her view of the most beautiful man her eyes had ever seen was lost to her. Along with everything else.
Horrified, she covered her mouth with her hands and tried to comprehend how things had gone sideways so totally between when she’d finished work and now. In just a handful of minutes she and Jeremiah had traveled to opposite sides of a continent.
The dinner he’d brought waited in the kitchen. A pot—probably stew—and sourdough bread he’d somehow imported because he knew it was her favorite.
What have I done?
She’d done what was necessary to safeguard her peace, her progress, and her independence.
But there was no,nocomfort or relief in it.
There was only deepest grief.
She’d anticipated that her romance with Jeremiah would end but she hadn’t wanted it to end like this . . . in anguish so shockingly personal it struck her like an insult.
ChapterTwenty-Three
“Is Jeremiahstillon Islehaven?” asked Margaret, Fiona’s gossip-loving sister, the following evening.
