Page 113 of Both Sides Now

"That weekend in Connecticut? You knew. This is what you do. It wasn't some surprise when I mentioned the possibility of being pregnant. You knew."

Keegan crosses his arms, a muscle jumping in his jaw.

Bingo.

"Did you come all the way to Long Island to tell me that?"

"Not just that."

"What else, then?"

I step closer, as resolve surges through me. “You can act like you don't care or that you've moved on, but I know you haven't."

"Is that a fact?" His blue eyes flash at me, but this time, I'm not backing down.

"It is a fact because you've never done that with anyone, and you did it with me. More than once."

"Your point?"

"You love me. I found your letter to Charlie."

He rubs his hand over his eyes. “Calli?—"

Oh no, Dr. Russo, I have the floor.

"And I love you. So damn much. I can't promise I won't ever have issues or that things won't back up on me, but I want to work through them with you. I want us back, Keegan."

"What's changed in the last few weeks?"

"Everything. I can't sleep without you. I wake up and don't look forward to anything because I won't see you or speak toyou. I dream about the way you touch me. I dream about touching you."

“It wouldn’t work because I don't believe in long-distance relationships."

The man keeps lobbing obstacles at me, but I'm determined to dodge them. Every. Single. One. "It wouldn't be."

"I'm not moving back upstate.”

Damn, but the man is certainly standing his ground.

Fine with me. He spent all these months bending to me. It’s time I bend to him.

"I sold my house. Well, it hasn't closed yet, but it will. It sold in two days, so I priced it way too low. But that's fine. Between my savings and the profits from the house, I have money to set up a wellness center and plenty for a down payment on a beach house. With you. I won't be your damn neighbor, but I will be your wife."

I move so that I’m no more than a few steps from him, just outside the embrace I miss so much.

Here goes everything.

"Marry me, Keegan. Have lots of babies with me. Be my family."

There it is. Everything spilled out in front of him—my heart, my hopes, my dreams—all revolving around him.

I'm not sure what reaction I expected, but it sure wasn't this deafening silence. My admission takes on a life of its own, hanging in the air between us.

Keegan taps his foot against the floor, his hands clenching and unclenching as his eyes dart everywhere in the small exam room.

Everywhere but in my direction.

"What do you say?" I croak, taking a step toward him.

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