Page 41 of Seeing You

Beside her, Marcus slowly sat up. “What’s wrong?”

“Do you have any idea how offensive everything you just said is?”

All he did was blink.

“Marcus, I love my family. I amalwaysgoing to love my family.”

“O-kay, and that means…?”

Huffing, she turned and faced him. “It means that I’m not just here because it’s a chore or I have to be. I’m here because Iwantto be! I got to be there to hold baby Calvin an hour after he was born! I got to help Ashlynn open her salon and watched her get married, and I can’t wait to be here when her baby is born! Chloe and Tanner just got married, and we’re all expecting a pregnancy announcement any minute!”

The bland look on his face just showed how unimpressed he was with her words.

“And I don’t have mybaking thingout of my system!” she ranted. “That has been a passion of mine for my entire life! And you know that because I baked a lot of shit for you over the years!”

“Okay, fine…sue me, I misspoke…”

“Ugh, you just don’t get it! You’re never going to get it!” With another huff of frustration, Billie kicked the sheets and blanket off and stormed to the bathroom to get her robe, slipping it on before facing him again.

When she stepped out, he was already getting dressed.

“Basically, you’re still putting your family first,” he said, and for the first time, she heard his frustration. “I came all the way back here today…”

“Oh, please! It was a four-hour drive and I’m sure you used part of the time at the wedding to kiss Iris’s father’s ass, because that’s what you do! Your job, your career…it’s all you think about!”

“It’s what Ido, Billie! I have a demanding career and of course I’m going to take opportunities when they present themselves! Iris’s father helped me in a big way; I was just trying to show him how much I appreciated him and how far I’ve come!”

“Yippee for you. A person who you basically have no connection with thinks you’re great. What about friends, Marcus? What about family?”

She almost added, “What about me?” but kept that to herself.

“What about them?”

And those three words said it all. They were compatible physically, but with everything else, they were far too different.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said quietly. “It just doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Look, I don’t know what you expect me to say. I was hoping we could get our lives back. I understand that you needed time to figure things out, but…I honestly thought we had…”

“We had sex, Marcus,” she said flatly. “And I think this time, we genuinely got our closure. This was the conversation we should have had at dinner that night. I don’t want the life that you have. I love the life that I have.” Shrugging, she hugged herself. “There’s nothing wrong with either of them, but…we’re never going to want the same things.”

Marcus finished getting dressed and it was breaking her heart to watch him, knowing it was the last time.

He slowly walked over to her—stalking her like his prey—before hauling her into his arms and kissing her. She felt weak and excited all clinging to his lapels before he pushed her away.

“You’re a fool, Billie.” His voice was gruff and oddly cold. “I could give you everything you could ever want, and you’re throwing it away again. And for what? What is it that this fucking town has to offer? What is the hold it has on you?”

“Marcus…”

But he was already walking to the door. Yanking it open, he turned and looked at her. “At least I have the decency to look you in the eye before walking away.”

If he had slapped her, it would have hurt less. “You’re no better than I was. You’re still walking away.”

“The only difference is that it’s not the day before our wedding.”

The door slammed shut before she sank to the carpet and cried.

Marcus felt like the entire drive back to D.C. on Sunday morning was on autopilot. He spent the entire time on a call with his assistant going over plans for the week.

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