Page 35 of Imagine Me and You

“Like that would really change anything?” she asked, regretting the words as she spoke them, panic driving her on. “My mom left me, Jace. My mom left me here and never came back. She didn’t even care. I don’t...people don’t stay with me.”

“And I’ve only stood by you for fourteen years. Not much of a guarantee.”

“It’s different. I...Jace....” She took a deep breath. “I have had so much...so much loss. And not a moment of stability, until you. I need you. Don’t you understand? I need you where you were. I need my friend. My support system.” She put her hand on his cheek. “If I don’t have you here to hold me up, my whole world will crumble and I can’t risk that for sex, for...for this idea of love when I’ve never, ever seen that version of it last.”

Jace stumbled back like he’d been punched in the stomach, and she felt the impact in hers.

“Tell me you understand,” she whispered.

He nodded, a muscle in his jaw jumping. “I understand.”

“Thank you,” she said.

“I understand, but I’m not going to do it.”

“What?”

“I’m not going to be your fucking support system,” he said, his tone hard, even. “I am not here to prop you up. Stand on your own damn feet, Samantha. You aren’t a child. You’re a grown woman, and I’m a man. I’m not going to be half a person to you. Just here to fill your needs. Because I want everything. I want to be your friend. I want to be your lover. I want to be your husband.”

She felt like her world was falling away, the ground disintegrating, slipping from beneath her feet. “Jace...”

“You can’t have me only on your terms.”

“So, I can only have you on yours?” she asked, a tear sliding down her cheek. “That’s not fair. That’s...”

“Put your dog on the couch. Let her drink out of the toilet, wash the dishes with your thumb, bake pies inside cakes—that’s fine as long as I can have you. I want you, Sam. But I want all of you. Not half.”

“Maybe...maybe you feel like that now. And maybe you want me now. But in five years? I don’t...I don’t think you will. And it’s not worth it to me. There’s too much risk and I...I can’t.”

She regretted the words the moment they left her mouth, as she watched them hit Jace with the force of a slap. He swallowed hard, the expression on his face so pained it tore into her guts.

“Great. Then that’s...fine. But I’m going to need you to go somewhere else.”

“Where? I can’t...where?”

“Then I will. I’m going to a hotel.”

“You can’t leave your own house.”

“I’m not staying here with you.”

He bent and picked his clothes up off the floor, putting them on as quickly as possible. He walked away from her into the living room, grabbing his T-shirt off the back of the couch.

Poppy lifted her head from where she was sleeping in front of the fire, unperturbed until that moment.

Jace flung open the closet and pulled out his hat and coat, putting both of them on before going to the door and picking up his keys and wallet.

Horror crept over her, along with the realization that he really was leaving. “Jace!”

He turned to look at her, waiting for her to speak.

“You won’t really go. We’re friends...we...”

He shook his head. “No. Text me when you figure out somewhere else to stay that will take Poppy.”

“Your animals...”

“I’ll come back to take care of them. We won’t run into each other.”

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