Page 43 of When You Left Me Speechless

LOGAN

“I followedmy high school boyfriend to Europe like an idiot,” she answers, then laughs nervously and plays with her hair.

I don’t respond immediately, hoping she’ll let me in a little more if I give her space.

“I know it sounds dumb, but I thought we were in love. He came from a lot of money, and I was young and thoughthe was my forever. He convinced me to put my dreams on hold so he could follow his.” She sighs. “A year into the trip, we went out to dinner and I thought he was going to propose. I know we were young, but I had followed him all the way to Europe. He obviously didn’t and when I told him that’s what I thought was going to happen, he made me feel so dumb. We ended things that night and it completely broke me. I came back to the States and moved in with my mom and dad, saved up some money, and worked my ass off to get into school and earn some scholarships.”

“He made you feel dumb?” My blood feels hot, and my fists are tight under the table. It is apparent that she is smart. How dare some asshole make her believe anything else.

She nods, looks down at her plate, and picks up a fry. She twirls it around in the small cup of ketchup, pausing before she says something. “I mean he wasn’t wrong. I was the nineteen year old idiot that thought he was going to propose to me.”

“Poppy…”

She takes a bite of her burger. “You don’t understand. Girls don’t break up with guys like you.”

My eyebrow hitches above my glasses. “What makes you think that?”

“You know,” she gestures her arm up and down, “I mean, look at you.”

“Are you trying to tell me you think I’m good-looking?” I laugh.

“No, I just meant. Uh, well, I don’t know what I meant, but you know what I mean.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

She rolls her eyes and takes a long sip of her shake.

“If you must know. My last relationship ended because she broke up with me,” I say.

“What?”

“Yep, a little over a year ago. We had been dating for a while, and she broke up with me when I told her I loved her.”

“You loved her?” She almost seems bothered by my admission, but I’m not sure.

“I mean, I thought I did. It was a long time ago though and I think it was for the best.” I pause for a second. “Your ex should never have—” My phone rings, interrupting my answer. I pick it up, stare at the screen for a few seconds before silencing it, and then place it face-down on the table.

“You can answer it,” she says.

“No, that’s okay, it’s not important.” I shove the phone back into my pocket. I don’t need or want to talk to my father tonight. “Sorry about that. What I was trying to say was that your ex should have never made you feel that way.”

She spins her hair with her finger. “Hard to not feel like an idiot when someone calls you an idiot.”

“What do you mean?” My blood is now boiling, and my knuckles are white. I’m realizing I might care for this girl. I don’t have an anger problem or a violent streak, but hearing her talk about her ex is making me want to hit something or, more specifically, someone. I want to defend her. The asshole better still be in Europe because if I ever met him, I don’t think I would be able to control myself.

“Well, when I told him I thought he was proposing, we got into a huge fight. I argued I had put school on hold for him because I had, and he told me I was an idiot for thinking he and I were anything more than temporary. He accused me of using him for a free vacation.” She pauses and takes a deep breath. I can see tears form in the corner of her eyes. “He called my dreams stupid and told me no one like me could get a master’s degree because I wasn’t even smart enough to figure out he didn’t see a future with me.”

Yeah, I want to kill him. “Poppy?—”

“Oh gosh,” she cuts me off. “I’ve said too much andruined the mood, haven’t I? I’m sorry. I don’t know why I told you all that. Lacey is the only one who knows how dumb he made me feel. Please ignore me.”

My heart swells a little at her confession, and I realize I’m in deep shit. I do care for this girl.

“No, I want you to hear this,” I continue because everything in me is screaming to erase his words from her head. The look on her face tells me a part of her still believes them. “You’re not an idiot. Hell, you impress me every time you’re in my classroom. I think you’re incredible at what you do. You put your dreams on hold so he could follow his. That’s selfless, not stupid. What’s dumb is that he didn’t realize what he had, and he fucked it up. Men like that don’t deserve women like you.”

She offers me a small smile. “Thank you.” It comes out so low it’s a whisper on her lips. “Any woman that would break your heart doesn’t deserve you either.”

It takes every ounce of restraint I have not to get up and move to sit next to her. I want to wrap her in my arms and tell her over and over how incredible I think she is, but I know I can’t.

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