Page 117 of This Time Around
“I’ll call Max,” Cooper said.His voice sounded scrubbed with shards of glass and he reached to grab his glasses from the bed.“I’ll pack my things.Get on the first plane out I can.I think that’s probably best.”
“Don’t.Don’t leave.Not like this.”This wasn’t ending.It couldn’t.“Cooper, please.”
I was steps from him.It felt like miles.Felt further when he looked at me, had to see the pain so visibly etched on my features and he didn’t flinch.“I think it’s for the best.Maybe this all moved too fast.Maybe you’re not ready.Hell, I don’t know, maybe I’m not ready.But I know that what’s best for me, isn’t giving my all to someone who isn’t sure they can give all of theirs back to me.That’s not fair.”
It was just time I was asking for.
His point was made.When he looked at me, he didn’t see how much I desperately loved him and needed him.Maybe because I hadn’t given it to him, too hung up still on Joseph and Jenni and affairs and death and struggling.Maybe I’d forgotten how to love someone.
Maybe I never knew how to love someone.
Maybe that’s why Joseph cheated on me in the first place.
“I’m sorry.So sorry.”
He came to me then, slid his hand to the side of my head, cupping it and I fell into him.His thumb brushed my cheek.“I’m sorry, too.”He pressed his lips to my forehead, stealing my breath, but before I could reach for him, he was gone, his back was to me and I stood in the room in the guesthouse and watched him walk away from me.
