“Chelsea?”
She rested her forehead against the glass.
I backed against the wall, regretting how terrible everything had been since we’d gotten to the hotel. “I shouldn’t have brought you here.”
She rolled her head around so she could glare at me. “You’re seriously just going to move ahead with this decision without me?” She held her hand out toward the unimpressive apartment. “You wantthisover what you have at home? Over me?”
“I don’t want anything over you, Chelsea. I want thiswithyou.”
“But what if I don’t want this?” She slid down the glass and sat hard on the floor. “I can’t believe you told me to jump and expected me to ask, ‘How high?’”
I dropped down beside her and rubbed her arm. “You wouldn’t even try it? What’s so exciting back home that you’re suddenly homesick?”
“That isn’t even the point.”
I sucked on my teeth, irritated at her for behaving like this was a death sentence. “When you promised mewherever you go, did it ever occur to you we might stay here?Or was that a one-way proposition? As long as I’m following you?”
“That’s not fair.”
“This is where things get real. Either we make a change that benefits us both, or we go our separate ways. There is nothing for me, forus, in Virginia.”
“Can’t you see this is already a big enough risk without throwing in a whole new country?” She wiped her face on her skirt.
“Do you really think I’m a risk?”
“Yes,” she ground out. “Dr. Rubin always reminds me that communication is the key to a solid relationship. How can we work if you’re constantly hiding things from me?”
“I’m nothidinganything. I’ve been talking about the possibility of staying since I met you in France.”
“And I told you the reality of moving abroad makes me panic.”
“But you wouldn’t be alone.” I stared up at the ceiling. There was a spidery crack running from one wall to the other. It was amazing the place still stood. I turned back to Chelsea. “What are you really afraid of?”
She leaned her head back, eyes probably tracing the same black line across the ceiling. A fresh teardrop charted a new course, and she shuddered out a shaky breath.
“My mom put herself second, chasing after love, blind to the warning signs. But I keep my eyes open, and this whole thing is one big red flag.”
“I don’t see it that way.” My entire body sagged. “I’d hoped this could be a new life for both of us, together. An adventure. But I get it. You’re not ready. You want an easy, no-risk life where everyone is available on your schedule. I played by your rules, Chelsea. I really did. And then you know what I did? I made plans based on the futureyousaid you wanted.”
“And you made them without me. How can I trust a future with you if you’re shutting me out of decisions right at the very beginning?”
God, she was never going to let that go. “I swear, I thought we were on the same page, and I’m hoping to have that conversation now. Is there nothing about this that would make you want to stay? Not even me?”
She rubbed her forearm across her nose. “If you loved me at all, you’d put my needs first.”
I gritted my teeth. She couldn’t see that she was asking me to do the very thing she was refusing to do. She wanted to be in control. She wanted my life to revolve around hers.
“Believe it or not, I am.” I thought we were past all this, but she was sounding like when we’d first met, like the girl too scared tomake commitments. “This is where everything makes the most sense. For us. For our future.”
She rasped, “You said you loved me.”
“Of course, I love you, λατρε?α μου.” My love. My worship. My heart was breaking in two.
“But you’re letting me go.”
“That’s your choice,” I said. “But I’m not going home.”
“Fine.” Her eyes could have thrown fire.
