Page 113 of When Love Is Unexpected

"I've been offered a job as an examiner in a patent office in Eureka. I want you to come with me. We can start over."

"Patricia," I said.

"Tricia," she corrected me.

"Tricia, I don't love you."

"I don't believe you."

"You're in denial," I said, "but let's call it agreeing to disagree."

I wished her the best. That was the last time I saw or spoke to her. There haven't been any more emails from her either. I even checked my junk folder to make sure.

My family was more disappointed in me for what happened with Laila than Laila's own family.

When I told Mom, she shook her head. "I'm speechless," she said. "What the heck were you thinking? Oh, that's right. You weren't thinking."

"Alice," Grandma Janice said, "don't be so hard on our boy. He'll learn from his mistakes."

"I expected him to learn from his last mistake," said Mom.

"Grandma," I said, addressing Ruth, "what do you think?"

"When I met Laila, I told her you would love her forever if she let you."

That's what she'd whispered in Laila's ear the day they met.

"I think it'll all work out if it's God's will for you two to be together," Grandma continued. "It's what you should be praying for."

"I have been praying," I said. "I have."

My sisters called me an idiot. "Tell me something I don't know," I said.

"She deserves better," said Abby. "She loves you, and you couldn't even be honest with her."

"The only thing I lied about was Patricia, and it was a lie of omission, sort of."

"Ugh," exclaimed Emma before walking away and yelling, "Figure it out, Sam. Or else!"

The "or else" is never good.

Dad and Grandpa both told me to get on the first plane to New York and make it right, but I took Loren's advice and waited.

Pops gave me the best advice. "Get all your ducks in a row, Son, so when she's ready to talk, you'll be there, ready to listen."

So, I've been here, in Cold Spring, ready to listen for the past two weeks.

After I get home from the gym, I call for takeout before showering and changing into sweats and a T-shirt. I'm sitting on the couch answering emails when the doorbell rings. I grab the money off the counter and open the door, expecting it to be my sesame chicken and fried rice.

"Laila," I say, staring into those beautiful green eyes I've missed so much.

Chapter 27

Laila

"Are you going to invite me in?"

"Yes," he says. "Of course, come in."

---