Page 143 of Holding You
She pulls my shirt down over her body and slowly stands in front of me.
“My biggest client is … it’s complicated, and I’ve been working my ass off to close this deal. It’s become one big mess, and both of those things require me to be in Chicago full-time right now.”
She doesn't say anything, so I go on.
“I need to finish this deal. I have to.”
“Why?”
“Because I do.”
“I need to know why, Declan. You have to explain to me, or I can’t?—”
“Because it’s why Susie’s mom left,” I cut her off. “She left because I put more work into my company than I did for her, and she didn’t like that. She left Susie because ofme,Ruby,and ifwe don't close this deal, then Susie will have lost her mom for nothing. I don’t know if I can move on from the past if I don’t.”
I drop to sit on the bed. I’ve never said that aloud before. “Part of me thought if I never told anyone, it wasn’t true. But it is.”
Ruby quickly comes to sit next to me, and she hugs me tight.
My heart sinks. This company has cost me so much already, and it’s about to cost me even more.
Ruby hand glides up and down my spine.
“I want you to stay here,” she admits. “Because I’m selfish and I don’t want to go a day without you.”
“I know. I want to stay, too. Maybe I will?—”
“But you have to go, Declan.”
“What?” The tears in her eyes break me even more.
“You have to finish what you started. Not for Susie or me or anyone else—you have to do it for you. You’ll either regret it or always wonder, and I won’t be the reason for that.”
“Then come with me,” I say, cupping her face in my hands. “You and Max.”
“I can’t.” She breaks into a sob. “If I’m going to move on from the past, too, I can’t repeat it.”
I hold her through the tears. One slips from my eyes, but I swipe it before she can see it.
“I’m not leaving you forever. We can make this work until I figure things out.”
“No.”
My entire body rears back as if she slapped me.
“What?”
“I won’t do long distance.”
I shake my head. “Why not? This isn’t forever, I just need to go back and get a plan in place.”
She holds her head high and takes a deep breath.
“So when will you be back? And then when will your job take you away from me again? How many times will it happen?”
She’s right to ask me this.
“I don’t know.”
