Page 83 of Thankful For Us

"Yeah. Thanks for the warning."

"I didn't know she'd be here."

I turned and glared at him. "Look, I know that your world is still in orbit with hers because of your daughter, but I saw more than that between you two."

"That's bullshit." Anger flared in his eyes.

"I know what I saw, Sam."

"What you saw isn’t the problem. How you interpret what you saw is. There is nothing between Sandra and me. There hasn't been anything between us since before I met you."

His words cut me to pieces. "Why are you lying to me?"

He shook his head. "I've never lied to you. From the day our lives came back together, I have been trying to explain—"

"And like I told you, it doesn't matter."

"Then why are you here?" He stared at me like I’d grown a third eye.

I turned back to my packing. "That doesn't matter anymore either."

"The hell it doesn't." His voice was so loud I was sure his family could hear it.

"You should keep your voice down. You don't want everybody knowing your business."

"I don't give a fuck what they know or don’t know about my business." He glared at me for several minutes, but I ignored him as I went to the bathroom to grab my toiletries.

He came to the doorway, blocking me in. "I fucked up five years ago, Kate. This between us now, what we could have, you're the one fucking it up now."

I whirled around on him. "I'm not the one who has been lying.”

He gritted his teeth. "I've never lied to you. If anyone is lying, it’s you to yourself. You're so jaded that you can't see the truth." His eyes narrowed. "Or maybe you don't want to see the truth. The way you've been acting during this trip is now making sense. I thought maybe it was a sign that you’re letting your guard down, when in fact, it was actually a sign that your guard was up a hundred and ten percent. You don't want to be here. You don't want me. Now Sandra gives you the perfect excuse to get away. Everything that you're thinking and telling yourself is a lie." He let out a derisive laugh. "Here I was thinking we would get married. But now I see that there's no getting through to you."

Married?For a moment, my heart yearned for that. But then I remembered five years ago and ten minutes ago when Sandra put her arm around him.

I pushed him out of the doorway, taking my toiletry bag to my suitcase. "Think what you want. I don't care. "

“That's just it, Kate. You don't care. You don't care about anyone else but you. Yes, you had some shitty cards dealt to you, but Jesus fucking Christ, isn't it time to get over it? You don't think I haven't had crap cards dealt to me? The difference is I can forgive. You’re incapable of forgiveness."

I hated every word coming out of his mouth. I hated more that he was right.

I zipped up my bag. "Just go have Thanksgiving with your family. I'm sure your daughter misses you."

"Goddammit, Kate. Chelsea is not my daughter."

Those words stopped my forward momentum to the door.

"If you'd let me explain."

I shook his words out of my head because they didn’t fit with what I saw. The child called his mother Grandma.

"Explain what? I saw you greet them at the door, Sam. You don't think I'm stupid enough to now believe you're not that child's father."

"If you would let me explain... if you would know the truth. But I can see now, even if I tell you the truth, it's not going to change anything. I am so fucking in love with you, Kate, but it means nothing to you."

He reached over and grabbed my bag. "Here, let me help you. Have you ordered a car yet? Do you want me to arrange your flight home?"

His change in direction threw me for a loop. And I couldn’t deny that it hurt that he was giving up. God, I was a mess.

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