He even thanked her multiple times and said he appreciated and valued that trait of hers!
He stared at her. She could see he wanted to argue on principle. “That’s not the point.”
“I don’t know what the point is other than you’re mad. Why? This is only two miles from my condo. It’s not that far away. It will add a little drive for you too.”
“You don’t get it,” he said.
“Obviously not,” she said slowly. “So why don’t you explain it to me?”
Her arms were crossed, her toe tapping. Her patience button had been popped.
“You and I, we’ve never been on the same playing field.”
“Stop,” she said, letting out a loud growl. She was going to swing her arms in anger soon. “I’m sick and tired of you notthinking you’re enough for me. Even for yourself. Get your head out of your ass.”
“Talking to me like that is only going to make this fight worse.”
“Bring it,” she said. “This has been a long time coming. Say it like it is. Tell me everything so I can tell you what an idiot you’re being.”
He smashed his lips together, his fists clenched. “I know who I am and what I’ve got and it’s not this,” he said, his hand waving around. “I can’t keep up with this and will never be able to. You’re doing this because you feel sorry for me and what is happening. You want to give my son things I can’t afford and all it does is make me feel like shit.”
Wow. He’d never saidthatbefore.
Most of the time it was words, but never how it made him feel less.
She took a deep breath to calm down. “I know you’ve got a lot going on. And self-doubt you don’t like to acknowledge, but you’re wrong. Off base completely.”
“Tell me how I’m wrong. Tell me how your car cost more than I make at the firehouse. Tell me how the cost of your small condo is about all I could afford for a home and here you are building something in agatedcommunity. Tell me how everything you’ve bought for my son in your house isn’t better than what I bought for him in my house.”
Her eyes widened. She never even thought of those things. But she wouldn’t apologize for the way she was raised either.
“I’m buying this house because we need it. You know it, and I know it. If you’re too stubborn to see or accept that times change and that women and men don’t have to have equal bank accounts or that a woman can’t make more than a man, especially when that man busts his ass and is a great person deepdown, then that’s on you! I don’t care about those things, but you obviously do regardless of how many times I tell you otherwise.”
“You don’t understand what it’s like.”
She stomped her foot and walked a few feet away from him and then came back.
“Chance. I didn’t know if it was possible for you to make me this angry. No. I love you. I haven’t wanted to say it because I’m not sure how you feel, but it needs to be said, even if it’s in anger. You need to stop thinking everyone is judging you when they aren’t. Did I approach this wrong? Yep, I did. I just thought that for once in my life I found a man who accepted me for who I am and that is someone who takes control when life is spinning around. Guess I was wrong!”
Ugh! Why didn’t she see this coming?
She turned and marched back to her car. “Where are you going? You can’t just drop that on me and leave.”
“Yep, I can. And I am. And I did! Think it over long and hard because it seems to me you’ve got a lot to figure out in your life. When you’re ready, you know where I am. Seeing how you’ve liked that I’ve taken charge before, I’m doing it now by leaving before either of us says something more we’ll regret.”
She got in her car, slammed the door and sped away, pulling a card from his high school deck and squealing her tires, leaving smoke in her wake.
43
DID IT YOURSELF
“What did you do to piss Jocelyn off?” Rhea said.
Chance was in his office at the pub slamming things around. Not even anything he needed, just picked it up and put it down with more force than necessary.
“What?”
“I know you and what you do when you’re pissed and upset. It’s a combination of both. I know you’re worked up over Baylee being out on bond now, but I’m pretty sure she won’t bother you. She might even hightail it out of here.”
