Page 120 of Until I Have You

“How do you know all of that?”

Abigail drops her hand into her lap.“So, it’s true.It was you.”

“Howdo you know all that?”I reiterate.

She picks up her spoon again, takes another spoonful of pannacotta.“My contact there explained the circumstances of the job offer to me.”

“You’re upset.”

Abigail takes the bite of pannacotta, let’s me sit in awful anticipation for her response.

“Of course I’m upset.”

“I thought you’d be…thrilled.”

“I was, until I realized that all of this was a hoax.”

I shake my head.“Ahoax?How is it a hoax?You got the job.”

“Thanks to your manipulation,” she says without lifting her eyes from the dessert.

“This wasn’t manipulation, darling, it was–”

“Don’t do the ‘darling’ thing right now, Theo,” she says, her voice steady and calm.Terrifying.

I lick my teeth.“Fine.Abigail.It wasn’t manipulation, it was insurance.I wanted to make sure–”

“How long has this plan been playing out, Theo?How long have you had this arranged?”

I will remain calm.Because my intentions are pure.Because I only wanted what was best for her and what’s best for Abigail is what’s best forus.“A few weeks.”

“A fewweeks?That’s most of our time together.You mean to tell me you’ve been scheming behind the scenes while I’ve been sleeping next to you.”

“None of this was scheming, Abigail!”I cry out, then have to recalibrate so as not to raise my voice again.“What that man did to you was wrong.I looked into him.Realized there were claims against him already.All I did was report him.And it was convenient that he worked at the aquarium.”

She laughs dryly.“Convenient.What a word.”

“It was!Convenient.The rest was justinsurance.You said you’d applied for a job, I just had to make sure the circumstances were ideal for you to–”

“All of this is convenient foryou, Theo.Ideal foryou.”

I gulp back on the frustration I have in failing to communicate what’s going through my mind.We can keep this on an even keel, we just have to be purposeful about it.“Don’t you want to stay?I thought this is what you wanted.”

Abigail’s eyes pinch at the outer corners.“It was.It’s what I wanted.On my terms.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You did what I was running away from.Men trying to control me, arrangemystory andmychoices and–”

I balk.“I did no such thing, Abigail.That wasn’t what any of this was meant to–”

“Your meaning, Theo, is lost in the execution,” she says.“To go to this extent to keep me here–”

“How am I keeping you here when you want to stay?Everything you’ve said since you started staying with me, everything we’ve done has indicated you want to stay and that–” I run a hand through my hair and try to catch my temper before it flits away.“Tell me that’s what you wanted.Be honest.”

“On my terms,” she says.

“Bloody hell–”

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