He looked up. “You look beautiful.”
“Thanks,” I said, folding my arms across my chest. “I always do.”
He nodded in amusement. “Come sit.”
I hesitated before walking over, settling on the opposite end of the couch.
Not too close. Not too far. Enough to let him know I was open but curious.
He watched me carefully. “Last night… I messed up.”
I didn’t say anything, I just watched and waited.
“I wanted you so bad it scared me,” he admitted, voice low. “And then I started thinking too much. About us. About the distance. About Marcus.”
I blinked. “So youareupset about the call.”
“I didn’t want to be. But yeah.” He leaned back, scrubbing a hand down his face. “I trust you, Carmen. But I can’t deal with him calling you whenever he feels like. Not when you’re not even working for him yet.”
“You could’ve just asked me about it,” I said quietly.
“I know,” he sighed. “I just—I didn’t want to start a fight. I was afraid I’d say something stupid, and you’d get back on that plane.”
I looked at him. “Do you really think I’d come all the way out here to leave after one night?”
“No,” he admitted. “But it’s been three years, Carmen. We’ve been holding on so tight, and I think I’m scared we’re not the same people anymore.”
“We’re not,” I said honestly. “Of course, we’ve changed. I’m not twenty-two anymore, Theo. This distance has been hell. But you can tell me when things happen.”
He stared at me like he needed to hear those words more than he realized.
“I think we’ve both been walking on eggshells,” I went on. “Trying so hard to make the most of the little time we get that we’re afraid to be honest in case it ruins it.”
Theo gave a small nod. “Yeah. That sounds about right.”
I leaned my head back against the cushion, glancing at him sideways. “I didn’t come here to argue. I came because I missed you, and I wanted us to feel something good again. Okay?”
Theo looked at me, his features softening as he nodded. “Okay.”
“Let’s start again. Clean slate with honesty.”
“Okay,” he repeated.
I tried to build the courage to tell him of my reasons for talking to Marcus, but he cut me off first, rubbing his palms together.
His shoulders tightened just slightly before he spoke.
“In the spirit of being honest,” he said slowly, “there’s something I need to tell you. And… It’s probably going to upset you. It’s partly the reason I didn’t want to have sex yesterday.”
I shifted to face him fully, heart thudding, and my own confession lost. “What is it?”
He exhaled hard.
“Remember my birthday?” he asked. “When we had that discussion on FaceTime about me feeling stuck?”
I nodded, lips parting but unsure of what to say. “Yeah… I remember.”
Theo ran a hand through his hair. “It messed with my head. I couldn’t stop thinking about it afterward, and I—I panicked. So I made an appointment and got it reversed.”
