“Because through all of it… I still love you. I still want you. I still believe in us, even if it feels naive now. Even if it makes me look like a childish idiot, I can’t stop thinking about you in my future.”
“I want that future, Theo.” The fire crackled. My voice came out small. “But. Is loving me enough to get us to that future?”
He exhaled, long and quietly. “I don’t know anymore.”
I swallowed hard, the words sitting bitter at the back of my tongue. “You don’t know?”
Theo didn’t answer. He just turned away, rubbing a hand over his jaw like he was trying to keep from saying something he’d regret.
“That’s… good to know,” I said, pushing up from the couch. “So all of this, everything you built, you did it on a future you weren’t even sure we’d see?”
He looked over his shoulder at me. “Don’t twist it.”
“I’m not twisting anything,” I snapped, louder than I meant to. “You said it.You don’t know.”
“I don’t know!” he barked back. “Because everything I thought I knew gets thrown back in my face every time I try to do something right with you. I built a life for us, and somehow I’m the villain for not running it past your checklist first.”
I stared at him. “Achecklist? That’s what you think this is to me? You think all I want is someone to check boxes for me?”
Theo threw his hands up. “I don’t know what you want, Carmen!”
Doubt: So much for not yelling…
“I want to make a decision for myself without feeling like I’m being trapped!”
“Why do you keep calling this a trap?”
“Because it is!” I shouted, stepping forward. “You did all of this knowing I had a job. Knowing I had a life waiting for me in New York. You made these decisions without me and expected me to just be grateful.”
“I was trying to make it easier!” he roared. “I was trying to give you something real here so you wouldn’t feel like you were giving everything up back in the States.”
“And you don’t get to decide that for me!”
“I didn’t decide anything!” he yelled back. “I talked to Marcus. I didn’t forge documents or cancel your fucking visa, Carmen. I told him I want you here with me. That’s it.”
“You didn’t ask me. Theodore,” I said coldly. “That’s the part you’re still not getting. You didn’task me.”
He went quiet. His chest heaved as he stared at the floor.
“I don’t wanna just exist in your future,” I whispered, trying to keep my voice from breaking. “I want to build somethingwithyou.Together. You used to understand that. You used to know me so well.”
His mouth opened—then closed.
He didn’t have an answer for that.
I blinked at him, my vision starting to blur.
“I don’t even know who you are right now,” I said. “The Theo I fell in love with would’veneverdone this to me.”
He looked up at me then, but I continued.
“Now you’re just—”
“I’mstillthe man you love and know.”
“Then listen to me,” I said, tears spilling over. “Because if you keep doing this, if you keep making decisions behind my back, and shutting me out, you’re going to lose me. I don’t care howmany houses you build or cars you give me.You’ll lose me, Theodore.”
Theo flinched like I’d slapped him.
