Page 44 of Meant to Be
“Seeing you hurts me. You know it, yet you keep poking at me. And I’ll be happy to poke back… in more ways than one.” He waited until she understood the innuendo of this comment. “But what we had is long gone and can’t be brought back.”
Tears welled in her eyes, and he cursed himself for putting them there, but he did nothing about it.
“That’s what I came for.” She stood and wobbled.
He reached out to steady her, but she recoiled. “Syd.”
“I’m sorry I hurt you, but I’ve said that. I’m not going to continue to take the blame for your bitterness toward the world.”
“I’m not bitter.” He watched as she carefully made her way around the coffee table, hopeful that she wouldn’t teeter over.
“Yes. You are.”
“Because I can’t go back to what we were?” He ran his fingers through his hair and blew out a breath, pissed at and concerned for her all at the same time.
“No.” She shook her head and stumbled to the side, catching herself with her hand on the fireplace mantle. “No, you’re bitter because you’re still back there and can’t go forward.” She pushed off from the fireplace and made a beeline toward the guest room. “Thank you for letting me stay.”
He watched her until the door to her room closed. Then he grabbed her bottle and sat, hoping to drink away the fact that she was right.
