He nodded, joining her on the top step of the deck. It was the only one the roof overhang kept clear from snow.
She wasn’t positive how to begin the conversation, only that they needed to have one. “Are we…okay?”
He stared down at his boots. “We will be.”
“What does that mean?”
“I just need time.”
The irony of hearing the same words coming from Leo that she’d just spoken to Harrison was almost too much to bear. Time could do wonders. But it could also do absolutely nothing. She had held onto that lie for years, telling herself that if she only waited a bit longer, she’d get over Leo. From the moment she’d turned around and taken in one glance of him at the airport, she was done for. All those feelings and desires had come rushing back.
They stared out at the backyard where glistening snow covered the grass, gardens, and the old swing set her, Finn, and Norah used to play on.
“I really am sorry, Leo.”
“Me too…me too,” he repeated on an exhale.
He reached an arm around her, and she cautiously rested her head on his shoulder. When he laid his head against hers, the worry whirling around in her chest eased ever so slightly.
Maybe they would be okay. Eventually.
“So what was that about?” he asked.
She didn’t have to ask what he was referring to. “He asked me to come back,” she said.
“When?”
“Now, I guess.”
“He actually asked you to ditch your sister’s wedding?”
“Basically.”
“Are you gonna go?”
Isabella lifted her head. “What do you think?” she asked, incredulous.
He pinched his lips together and raised a brow at her.
“You think that low of me, that I’d miss Norah’s wedding? That I’d miss Christmas with my family?” She wanted to add,miss Christmas with you, but didn’t.
She stood abruptly and shrugged out of his coat. She wasn’t angry. She was…hurt. She wanted so badly for him to know her better than that, to believe in her. But she supposed she’d given him little reason.
“I didn’t say that.” He pushed off his knees and stood on the step next to her. “Jeez, Izzy, don’t cry.”
She wasn’t crying. Almost, but not yet.
“Just forget it.” She sniffled. “You just really don’t know me. At all.” She shoved his coat at his chest before heading toward the back door of the house.
“You’re right,” he said, just a bit too loudly. “And who’s fault is that?”
She turned back around, slow and measured. “Seriously, Leo? We’re seriously gonna do this again? Now?”
“Look. My dad came by my place last night.” He paced the length of the deck. “He told me about you coming back. And about what my mom said to you.” He faced her. “To be honest, I don’t think she disapproved of us as much as she disapproved of you taking me away. Death is hard. She knew she was sick, and she didn’t want to lose me before she had to.”
Isabella blinked at him, her chest rising and falling in quick succession. “I knew that, too. I knew she just wanted to keep her family together. But I was young, and her words stung. She didn’t want me for you. She said New York would never be where you belonged, and I…I could see that. I didn’t want to be the reason you left everything you loved, Leo.”
He looked down at his boots, his hands buried in his coat pockets again. “Because I would have. For you, you know I would have.”
