Page 62 of Along Comes Trouble

“You can’t mean this .”

“I don’t want to mean this. I really don’t. But come on. Do you really see us ending up anyway but broken? How does this end, Colton ?”

“Not like this .”

“Fine. If not like this, then how ?”

“Why does it have to end at all ?

“Because there’s a goddamned freight train heading our way!” I hold out my hands in exasperation, my words tearing their way through my throat .

Colton rubs his mouth, the scratch of his stubble against his palm filling the silence between us. “I just don’t know why we have to end something this good over something that hasn’t even happened yet.” His voice is quiet. Resigned .

“Okay. Fine. Imagine we stay together. Imagine things are as good as they are now. Better even. We’re living together. We’re happy. What happens when, a year or two down the line, I tell you I’m ready to start a family ?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you’ll change your mind. Maybe you won’t want to start a family. How can you be so sure of something that hasn’t happened yet ?”

“Let me ask you the same question. What if you change your mind? Maybe you will want to start a family someday.” I mean it as sarcasm, but my heart begs for it to be true .

Colton closes his eyes and runs his hands into his hair, covering his face with his palms. “You’re right,” he says and my heart breaks. “We’re not gonna work .”

The moment the words are out of his mouth, I want to take it all back. I want to rewind to last night and accept the help from Bailey. Maybe, if she had been there, Colton never would have said what he said and we could keep on living in our happy little bubble. I close my eyes and suck in my lips, tears streaming down my face. The last couple months have been so wonderful and all of it was all built on a lie .

When I first saw Colton in the parking lot of the school, I knew he wasn’t for me. I knew it. But instead of listening to my instinct, I talked myself into trying something new and here I am, shattered. My heart and soul are in pieces on the floor of this damned apartment .

Colton steps toward me, reaches for me, falters, then drops his hands. “Is this it then?” Colton is designed for happiness and laughter. The sorrow tugging at his features is so wrong .

I press my hands against my stomach. My lips part. I want to speak, but if I do, all that will come out is pain. So I press my trembling lips together and nod. Colton drops his head and my apartment disappears in a watery blur as tears fill my eyes. He steps into me, draws me close, and wraps his arms around me, pressing my body to his for the last time. I breathe him in, melt against his chest, and damn it, I break down. I cry for him, for me, for us, my tears darkening his shirt as he runs his hands along my back .

Colton presses a kiss into my hair. Puts a finger to my chin and lifts my face to his. Brushes my damp hair off my cheeks. “I love you.” Tears fill his honey-colored eyes and he blinks them away. “Probably always will .”

Wait. Stop. Don’t go. I’m sorry. I don’t want this. I want you. I need you. I adore you. You’re my everything. We can figure this out .

It’s a steady stream of words in my head, my heart fighting for us, unwilling to acknowledge the freight train in our future. My eyes bounce across his face, hot tears burning their path down my cheeks. I open my mouth to speak, to tell him I love him, that I’m sorry, that I don’t want this .

But nothing comes out .

Colton nods once. Runs his hands through his hair. Pulls his hat down low over his eyes. And then walks out of my life forever .

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