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There it is.

Emotion.

She has been hiding it since I sat down. I see it now in the way she blinks too slowly, the way her fingers tighten around the stem of her glass.

I lower my voice again.

“I’ve spent weeks trying to show you that I’m serious.”

“I know.”

“I thought you understood that.”

“I do.”

“Then what is this?”

Her throat moves before she answers.

“This is me saying I can’t give you what you want.”

“You don’t even know everything I want.”

“I know enough.”

“No, you don’t.”

She closes her eyes for a second. I lean back before I say something I can’t take back.

“Is there someone else?”

Her eyes open.

“What?”

“Someone in California?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

Her expression turns cold.

“Yes, Ross. I’m sure.”

“Then help me understand why this changed in three days.”

“It doesn’t have to be because of another man,” she says.

“I didn’t say it did.”

“You implied it.”

“I’m trying to understand.”

“And I’m telling you there’s nothing else to understand,” she says sternly.

I shake my head.