“But—”
“You think he can’t handle your problems? He cares for you very much, and we all have problems.”
“Mine aren’t the normal kind of problems.”
“They’re far fromuncommon. It’s not a hardship to be with you, Courtney. You have to stop thinking like that. There will be hard times, yes, but you’ll get through them. Plus, the man is a CEO. I’m sure he’s used to handling problems.”
I sigh and put my face in my hands.
I don’t know, I don’t know.
If this were coming from anyone but Naomi, I wouldn’t even consider it. But my sister is the one person who’s always been there for me, always been supportive. If she thinks I’m punishing myself, maybe she’s right. If she thinks it’s not too much to expect a man to handle me when I’m depressed, maybe it’s true. It’s hard to wrap my mind around that possibility, but for the first time in a long time, it’s a possibility.
“You focus on what you consider the difficult parts of being with you,” Naomi says, “but those aren’t what come to mind when I think of my sister. I don’t consider you a difficult person. You’re unlucky to have the problems you have, but a man who truly loves you isn’t going to desert you because of something beyond your control. It’s not like you’ve refused to get help. You’ve tried lots of treatments, and you put a lot of effort into keeping yourself mentally healthy, always considering whether everything you do is good for you. It’s painful to see you throw something like this away when it’s clear you love Julian and he loves you.”
“Has he talked to you since last Wednesday?”
She shrugs. “He might have.”
“What did he say?”
Naomi pours herself some more wine. “I’m not telling.”
I pull the wine glass out of her hand. “I’m not giving this back until you do.”
“Fine. Be that way.” She grabs my mostly-full wine glass from the table and takes a gulp.
I laugh and have a sip of her wine.
“Just think about it,” she says. “Please.”
“I will,” I say, and I do mean it.
Chapter 30
Courtney
