Page 107 of Falling for You
‘Nate …’ I say gently, desperate for him just to look at me, ‘Nate … I …’
‘Yes,’ he says, his voice flat. ‘I can see why you’d see a bra and women’s clothes and that stupid note and assume I’d been with another woman.’
Relief ripples through me. ‘Exactly! So—’
‘But why didn’t you stay and ask?’ His eyes flick up to mine and I flinch. They’re not just angry, they’re hurt.
‘I was in the shower,’ he says. ‘I would have been out in five minutes. Like, do you not know me at all? We’d just spent all that time together – how could you think of me like that? I thought the world of you. I thought you felt the same way I did.’
The last bit tumbles out of his mouth and I feel a lump form in my throat.
‘I’m sorry …’
‘And you didn’t even give me a chance to explain!’ he cries. ‘You just left and blocked me. You acted as if I didn’t exist – how could you do that?’ He eyes me, and when I don’trespond he shakes his head. ‘It’s fine. I just guess I didn’t know you as well as I thought I did.’
‘I’m sorry …’ I say again, my voice weak. ‘I just thought … I’ve had guys do this to me before, I just thought …’
‘You thought I was like everyone else?’
It’s like he’s got hold of my heart and is slowly pulling it out of my body, ready to crush it between his fingers.
I nod, tears brimming at the corners of my eyes. Because now I see him again, it’s like the clouds in my mind have all parted. Because of course he isn’t like everyone else. This is Nate. The guy who somehow makes me feel whole, even though we didn’t even know each other a few weeks ago.
I open my mouth to speak but he gets there first.
‘It’s fine,’ he says coldly. ‘I’m going back to New York on Monday anyway.’
My stomach drops. ‘Monday?’ I repeat.
‘Yup. I’ve just booked a flight.’ He looks up at me, daring me to question him or to ask him to stay.
But … I can’t.
‘Right,’ I say. ‘And … are you coming back?’
He shakes his head. ‘Nah. This isn’t the place for me. I need to go back home. I better go back in.’ He gets to his feet. ‘Good luck with everything, Annie. I’m sorry for getting so angry,’ he adds, and for a second I see a glimmer of the fun, caring Nate I spent the weekend with. ‘Thanks for making my time here fun, I really did love it the most when I was with you.’
He goes to walk past me and I grab his arm. ‘Wait!’ I cry, my heart beating outside of my chest. ‘Is that it? You can’tjust leave! I know I screwed up, but don’t you want to fight for us?’
He looks down at me, his green eyes shining. I can see the idea playing in his mind; all he has to do is reach out and grab it.
But he looks away.
‘I’m sorry, Annie,’ he says. ‘I just don’t want to fight any more.’
He moves past me and walks inside, the fire door slamming behind him and making me jump. And suddenly, standing alone in the smoking area, the icy air feels as if it’s freezing me from the inside. Cold dread fills my body and I let the wind whip around me, rattling my bones.
He’s gone, and this time it’s for good.
And if I hadn’t run off in the first place … would he have stayed?
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Nate
‘I’ve got a bone to pick with you.’
My eyes ache as I look up at Stevie, who has marched into the living room with his eyebrows raised, pointing his passport at me.
