“Lance—“
“No.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “Look, I’ll do what you want and stay here—because you asked me to, not because I want to, because I want to go with you. But you asking me to stay means you don’t want me with you for some reason.”
“Lance, no, that’s not—“
He shook his head. “It is. It’s okay, though. I know your family stuff is hard for you, and you don’t like having other people involved. It’s bad enough that Megan and Chris have gotten involved. And you don’t know what’s going on with your brother—which, by the way, is an even better reason for me to come with you. I don’t trust him. I don’t know what’s going on, and the fact that he won’t let you talk to your mom worries me. But if you want to handle it on your own, I’ll respect that. They’re your family. So, fine. I’ll stay. But there’s no way in hell I’m letting you pay to change your tickets. I didn’t even let you buy your ticket to come. I’m not letting you pay for the way back, either.”
Abby stuffed a wadded up shirt into her suitcase, her shoulders slumping in defeat. “Fine. And it’s not that I don’t want you with me. I do. I just don’t—I don’t know what’s going on or what to expect. And if you come along, it might make things worse. I need to handle this on my own.”
Lance stood, pulling Abby into him. “I get it. It’s fine.” It wasn’t fine, but he knew better than to push right now. He’d do what she asked and get her home on Christmas Eve. And he’d follow the next day. There were lots of flights open on Christmas Day. He’d exchange gifts with his family that morning, then have one of them take him to the airport.
She was right that his dad would give him shit about that. But he’d give him shit for staying without her, too. Nothing he did would be right in his father’s eyes at this point. So there was no point taking that into consideration. His biggest regret was that he wouldn’t get to propose the way he’d planned. And with this new development with her brother, it would have to wait.