Page 28 of The Forever Experiment

“Hi, Maya baby.” I smile back, knowing mine doesn’t either. I take her luggage from her, wheeling it behind me as we make our way to the front of the hotel. “I already got us a cab,” I say once we’re outside.

I wave them down, my soul demanding I not. As the car pulls in front of us, the driver gets out, opening the trunk andbeckoning for me to hand him Maya’s suitcase. Yet, suddenly, my feet don’t move. Neither do my arms, my mouth.

My entire body is frozen, my wife staring at me like I’ve lost my mind as the cab driver continues to move his arms impatiently.

Forcing myself back into reality, I turn to the driver. “Can you actually give us a moment?” The man huffs before offering me a shallow nod and sliding back into the running vehicle. Facing Maya, I find her dark eyes wide with shock and confusion, though she appears just as hesitant as I am.

“I don’t want to do this,” I admit.

“Easton…” She shakes her head, at a loss for words, and I can’t blame her. “Are you telling me you want tostaymarried?”

I take her hands in mine, brushing my thumbs over the back of knuckles. “Yes.”

“We…we can’t.”

“Why?

She laughs in disbelief. “We don’t even live in the same state. We both have jobs and…and lives.”

“My job sucks,” I say honestly. “My friends are surface level. I fucking hate the cold. The only reason I came back to Boise after law school was because my firm was the first to offer me a job, and I had nothing else going for me. I still don’t.” I squeeze her hands. “Until you. I don’t want to give you up, and the life I was living before you walked into my arms two days ago seems real inconsequential now that I realize you won’t be in it when I return. You’ve eclipsed everything I was experiencing before, and I don’t want to let that go.”

Her lashes flutter, and I can tell it’s an attempt to hold back the emotion crawling up her throat. “So, what? You want to move to California?”

“Sure, why not?” I chuff. “I love California. I’m always looking for reasons to go down there and visit my sisters. I’ve just never had the courage to stay before. You make me want to find it.You make me want to start over and finally fuckinglivefor something.”

“What would you do for work?” she asks, beating around every bush except the one that actually matters.

“I can work for you.”

“You’re not barred in the state of California.”

“Then I’ll fetch your fucking coffee, Maya,” I scoff. “I’ll walk dogs or pave roads. I don’t give a shit. I just want to come home to you at the end of the day.”

I watch her throat work as she swallows, contemplating my admission. “Every man I’ve ever dated has left me because my schedule is too busy and my job is too demanding, because I’m too detached and hyper-independent, because I don’t know how to be affectionate and I don’t want to be needed. Most of all,” she inhales sharply, dropping her gaze to the ground, “because I don’t need, and I don’twantto need anyone else.”

For the first time today, I feel my lips tilt up into a genuine smile. “Maya baby. Look at me.” I grip her chin, forcing her to lift her head. “I will never punish you for being exactly who you are. I like your independence and your ambition. I love it, in fact. I want you to be all the things you just said, and I’ll never try and make you different.” Her brows knit together, features softening as she soaks in my words. “But I also think sometimes, you need to remember who you are outside your titles. Daughter. Sister. Attorney. I think this weekend you were reminded, maybe for the first time in a long time, what it’s like to just be Maya.MyMaya.”

One rogue tear escapes her glistening eyes, cascading down her cheek before I catch it. She nods, and I lift the hand of hers I’m still holding to my mouth, pressing my lips against it.

“I started falling in love with you ten years ago. Every study group, every stroll between classes, every stolen glance in the library, I was tumbling head first into it. What I’ve realized nowis that the timer didn’t start over despite the years apart. No, it began ticking faster the moment I was back in your presence.”

“You love me?” she asks, the question a gasp.

I know I may have said too much, laid myself too bare. I don’t think anyone has ever said something like this to her before, and while a deep satisfaction runs through me knowing I’m the first, I also know it’s going to take a minute for her to process. There were about a million ways I could’ve gone about this conversation, and the front entrance of a Vegas casino while a very impatient cab driver honks at us aggressively wasn’t the place to do it.

“Give it two weeks,” I plead, tone coming out shaky and desperate.

“Give what two weeks?”

“Yourself,” I continue. “Give yourself two weeks to think it through. Please.” I kiss her hand again before rolling her luggage in front of her and grabbing mine. “I have a trip planned to see my sister at the end of the month in Los Angeles. I’m going to go grab the annulment papers right now, and I’ll bring them to you then. I’ll have them signed, and if you still don’t want to give us a shot, we’ll file.”

“Easton…” She sighs. “I….” Her eyes are frantic with confusion and unease, but she’s not telling me no.

“Please.” I lean forward and kiss her head. “Please, Maya. Just…think it through.” I grab my bag and toss it in the back seat of the cab before stepping one leg in. “You stay, and I’ll—”

“Wait!” she says, stepping off the curb. “Our rings. We need to return them.”

The removal of that ring from her left ring finger is like a hot blade slicing itself down the center of my heart, and I swear, I can almost feel both halves of it splatter against the concrete beneath my feet. She holds it out to me, and the expression onher face is unreadable, the only sign she’s feeling any emotion at all the tear slipping down her cheek.

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