My eyes whipped over to her. “Hell, no.”
“Have I done that to you?”
I blinked. “I mean, no. But, I also haven’t known you for very long.”
“Has this tall, dark, and handsome man of yours done it to you yet?”
My shoulders slumped a bit. “No, he hasn’t.”
“So, what are you afraid of? No one’s given you any indication that they’re going to do what you fear. Why are you still scared of it, then?”
“I just want to protect my daughter from people who could possibly do that to her. That’s all.”
“Ah, so you use your child as a human shield.”
I snapped at her. “You take that back. What an awful thing to say.”
She clasped her hands together. “What do you think you’re doing then? Because it sounds to me like you’re using your daughter as an excuse not to get close to people under the guise that those people may or may not hurt her.”
“And I think that’s a valid enough reason.”
“Even if it keeps you so isolated that you can’t even trust the man you love?”
I furrowed my brow. “I never said anything about—”
She cut me off. “You didn’t have to. No woman ever gets this worked up unless there’s a man involved, and she’s never this worked up about a man unless she loves him. Do you love him?”
I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t like how you can break me down so easily.”
She grinned. “People aren’t as different and unique as they’d like to think. We live in this world where unique somehow equals ‘more special.’ Like, someone who’s lived a terrible life is somehow more worthy of fame and fortune than the kid up the street who comes from a decent background and didn’t have to work three jobs by the time he was fifteen just to help his mother make ends meet.”
“That… was very specific.”
But, Guadalupe only smiled and cupped my hands within hers. “People aren’t as different as they’d like to think, and that isn’t a bad thing. What’s different about you doesn’t make you special, Leslie. In fact, other people can’t even deem you as special. Only you can do that.”
“I’m… not sure I’m following anymore.”
She scooted a bit closer to me. “What I’m trying to get at is this: if you love him, then stop fighting with him. Instead, talk to him. Express to him how he’s making you feel and why it’s happening. It might not make sense, but I think you’ll come to realize that if you walk him through it, you’ll find yourself walking through it as well.”
“And I might realize just how ridiculous it is.”
“Now, I didn’t say anything about it being ridiculous or not. You might have a completely good reason to be upset with him. But, if you can’t even articulate what’s wrong with him, then he has no way to try to fix it. And that, Leslie, is the mark of a good man. A man who tries to fix his mistakes, even if he doesn’t understand them.”
I slumped forward and pulled my hands away from hers. “He took away my control.”
“Over what?” Suri asked.
My best friend perched on my other side, and I leaned against her. “He started going on and on about my eventually moving in with him, and it was all too much. He just assumed it would be that way, and I don’t like that. It just sort of spiraled from there.”
Guadalupe settled her hand on my knee. “Did you tell him that?”
I sighed. “No.”
Suri clicked her tongue. “Then, maybe you should try telling him first.”
I groaned. “You two and your effortless sense-making. You’ll be the death of me.”
Suri giggled. “You know I say it with all of the love in my heart.”
