Page 17 of Now and Forever

“Please don’t do that again,” I say breathlessly, and he finally lets me go.

“If you’re gonna hit me with the frying pan, then do it, but I’m not letting you go. I plan to keep on kissing you until you give me another chance.”

I suddenly realize I’m holding the frying pan. I drop it immediately.

With as much conviction as I can muster, I say, “Eric, we’re over.”

“No, love.”

“Yes!” I reiterate. “I’m out of your business and out of your life. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“I love you.”

I close my eyes. My strength is starting to falter. My body is beginning to betray me.

“I love you,” he says again, moving close and speaking near my mouth. “And loving you like this makes me irrational sometimes. Yes, I had my doubts, but they disappeared when you talked to me the way you did in the office and made me see how ridiculous and idiotic I was being. You’re not Betta. You’re not shameless nor a liar like she is. You’re a marvelous and beautiful woman who doesn’t deserve how I treated you. I’ll never forgive myself for breaking your heart.”

“Eric ...”

“Love, don’t doubt for a second that you’re the most important thing in my life and that I’m crazy about you. Don’t you love me anymore?”

I don’t answer.

“If you tell me that’s how it is, I promise to let you go, to walk out of here and never bother you again. But if you love me, forgive me for being so stubborn. I’m going to continue to try and convince you to come back with me because I can’t live without you anymore.”

I feel like my heart is going to burst. He’s saying such beautiful things!

“Eric, don’t do this to me ... ,” I say in a thin voice.

He leans his forehead on mine.

“Please, my love, please ... please ... please, listen to me,” he pleads. “I don’t have your magic, nor your flair or panache. I’m just a boring man baring his heart before you and asking ... pleading ... for another chance.”

“Eric ...”

“Listen,” he says, interrupting me, “I already talked to the owners of the pub where you were a server, and I fixed everything. You don’t have to work anymore. I ...”

“You did what?”

“Sweetheart ...”

I’m furious again. “Are you out of your mind?”

“Love, I’m so jealous, it’s killing me and ...”

“I’m gonna kill you,” I say. “You just screwed up the only job I had. Who do you think you are to do such a thing? Who?”

I thought my words would anger him, but no.

“I need and want to be with you,” my Iceman insists. I groan. “I can’t keep letting you give away your smile and your time to anyone but me. I love you, sweetheart. I love you too much to forget you, and I’ll do whatever it takes so you’ll love me and need me again as much as I do you.”

My eyes fill with tears. We’ve really done it this time! The man I love is standing before me, saying the most magnificent things I’ve ever heard. But I can’t forget how badly he hurt me.

“Let me go.”

“Then it’s true? You don’t love me anymore?” he asks in a tense voice filled with emotion.

My head feels like it’s about to explode.

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