Shaking my head, I step toward him. “That wasn’t you being weak, that was you having a natural reaction.”
“A natural reaction,” he scoffs. “That’s not natural for anyone and you fucking know it.”
I reach up to put my hands on his chest, I don’t want to fight, but I feel like he’s blowing this way out of proportion.
“Sunflower.” My hands freeze at the single wordhe utters.
Our safe word. The word we established means this stops.
My hands drop slowly to my side, and I take a step back, away from him even though my entire body is screaming at me not to. Especially when he closes his bag and swings it over his shoulder.
“I’m heading home.”
“What? Right now?”
“Yes.” His voice is cold. Detached, empty and devoid of emotion.
“Don’t go right now. If you still want to in the morning then?—”
“I’m leaving,” he states firmly. “Enjoy your time with your family.”
“Wes, please.” I try to get him to stop, still not moving from the spot I’m rooted to. I’m in disbelief over how he’s handling this. “Why can’t you just talk to me about this?”
“You don’t understand. You don’t get to tell other people about me and my shit. I’m leaving.”
I feel the tears welling up in my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. I can feel him pulling away more and more. I want to ask if I’ll see him once we’re back home, but I don’t think I can handle his answer if it’s no.
Reaching behind my neck I unclasp the necklace. “Might as well take this with you, it only makes sense to wear it if I’m yours.”
My throat constricts as he looks at the necklace, then back at me, but doesn’t move to take it. “Goodbye, Bailey.”
He walks out, and my chest caves at the sight. The worst part is not knowing where we’ll stand when I get back. I’d just gotten used to the idea of what we could be—what we’ve been—and now I have no idea what I’ll be walking back into.
I drop down to the ground and the tears finally fall, splattering directly on the necklace still cupped in my hand. That goodbye felt a lot more final than any of our previous ones. Suddenly the lightness I’ve been feeling is gone as everything comes crashing down around me. I started the day feeling light as a feather and now it’s ending like I’m being crushed.
Wes is gone.I couldn’t sleep last night, but I did hope he would come back at some point. I thought maybe he would take a drive like he does, and come back and feel better.
But he didn’t.
The sun rose, shining brightly off the snow, and I was still alone in bed.
When I go downstairs, Chandler is feeding Evie her breakfast. She gives me a smile that quickly fades when she takes in my appearance. I’m sure I have bags under my red rimmed eyes. I don’t even try to hide my current state of misery.
“What’s wrong?”
“Wes went back home. We got into a fight.”
“I’m sorry, are you okay?”
“I don’t know,” I tell her honestly. “I don’t even really understand what happened, but he didn’t want to talk about it either.”
“Men are complicated creatures, trust me,” she grumbles. “I’m sure he just needed some space, but if you want to head home as well, I don’t think anyone will blame you. We’ve just been so happy you came to visit.”
I think about what she’s saying, but shake my head. “No. I’m not going to run back home just because he’s being a jerk. If he wants his space, he can have it.”
Chandler nods solemnly, and Evie has the perfect timing of happily announcing she’s done with her meal. Clearly, she doesn’t feel the air of sadness currently surrounding me and that’s good. I can hold it together for two more days.
Maybe when I get back home and Wes has had his space everything will be fine. That’s the hope I have to hold onto so I don’t completely break down.
