What? Did Mara just say fine?
"What?" Ben snaps too. "Did you just sayfine?"
Mara groans. "You two, seriously. No. Fine,meaningnot fine. What you're doing? It's real bad. Like get-on-your-knees-and-pray bad." She lets it sit heavy, then pulls back a notch. "But there are evil people, and then there are good people who screw up big. You two are the second one.Capisce?So go and fix it."
Ben exhales a long, pained breath. "I don't know how, Mara."
"You do. You fix people for living—"
"Yeah, but this isn't a broken bone, and it's not just up to me. I poured my heart out to her like an idiot, did everything to make up for the past. Every time I push a little, she backs away, and I can't keep fighting when she's scared of me. I don't think she loves me the way I love her."
I clamp my hand over my mouth, feeling my knees wanting to slump against the wall.
"She loves you," Mara fires back.
"She can't even say it."
"She doesn't have to. You're blind if you don't see it."
"She left me. Married Richard. She's here with him."
"Stop blaming her. You weren't exactly a saint," Mara fires up. "You pushed her away too, remember? I told you many times that at some point you guys will snap. You both screwed it up. Congratulations."
Ben scoffs. "Weren't you the one who told me to stop offering my organs to every woman I date?"
"Yeah, but this isn'tevery woman," Mara counters. "This isEmma. She's your endgame. Always was."
A pause.
His voice finally softens: "I wanted to divorce Lisa and be with her, but now... I don't even know. I think I'm done."
"B, you're far from done," Mara says softly. "You almost don't talk to me now, but I know you. You'd rather die than not to be with her."
"True, but then I'll rather die. I hate being played for a tool."
Mara tuts. "Listen. You guys have to talk. Tell her everything. And I meaneverything. She has to know."
"No." Ben's voice goes deeper, more resolute. "Whatever we talk about stays between us. So keep it to yourself, as you promised."
"Seriously? You'll drive me insane one day!" Mara nearly shouts, dramatically.
When he doesn't say anything, she sighs loudly.
"Fine. Listen, you're a good man. I'll say it till I'm blue in the face, I'll say it to God's face if I have to. You're a good man and the best brother anyone could ask for. Shit—" Her voice falters before she starts panicking. "Get me a tissue! Now! This makeup was three hundred bucks and I'm not ruining it because you're an idiot!"
Ben huffs a laugh. I hear shuffle, tissues crumpling, that muffled sniffle Mara tries to hide but can't.
"Forget about me, I can't believe you're Mrs. Dalton now. Somebody else's headache," he says.
"Hey!" Mara snaps, but the laugh is threaded through it.
"I'm kidding," he says with a smile in his voice. "You'llalways be my favorite pain in the ass."
Mara laughs. "You have my full support. As long as you're happy? I'm in your corner. Always."
"Thanks, bambina.Lo sai che ti voglio bene, no?"
"Yeah," she says.
