Page 69 of One Good Reason

“Life, huh?” I questioned. Taking a sip of my drink, I peered at him over the rim of the glass. “Life’s a bitch at times.”

“Life is what you make it most of the time. You put in a shitty effort, you get shitty responses.”

“I guess that’s why I always get shitty responses, huh.”

“No, my dear. You get shitty responses because you hold yourself back from being happy. It’s like you thrive off being miserable. You have the world at the tip of your fingers and instead of appreciating that, you find ways to diminish it.”

“Well… don’t you have me all figured out.”

Dropping his fork, Law leaned back in his chair. “I really don’t. And that’s what I don’t understand. I’m usually good at reading people but I can’t read you for shit.”

“You can’t read me because you want to fix me, Lawton. And in case you haven’t realized, I’m unfixable.”

“Bullshit!” he countered.

“It’s the truth.”

“It’s not,” he refuted with a quick toss of his hand. “You aren’t unfixable. If that’s the case, you wouldn’t have sought therapy. Your fears aren’t what you let on. Your fear is getting close to people so, you keep everyone at arm’s length.”

“Only people who have the potential to hurt me.”

“Everyone has the potential to hurt you. Hell, Gema could hurt you, Talitha.”

“She won’t,” I argued.

“But she could. You don’t get close to people, you don’t let people get close to you. You portray this well put together woman when in reality you’re still that same hurt five year old.”

“Fuck you, Harvey!” I hissed, playfully.

“Now it’s fuck me.” He chuckled. “Look at you, sitting over there looking all gorgeous and shit. Your soul is black because you’ve been hurt. I’m not trying to cause any harm to you, Talitha. I want to be your friend and I want you togenuinelybe mine. No expectations… no rules.”

“I thought we were friends,” I stated.

“Only at your convenience.”

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

Swiping his thumb across his nose, Law chuckled. “I figured it wouldn’t be too much longer. What do you want to talk about?”

“Why did your last relationship end?” I had my suspicions, but I wanted a definitive answer from him.

“Shit. Several reasons.”

“Give me one.”

“She wanted kids.”

“And you don’t,” I denoted. “Why didn’t you try to meet her half the way?”

“How can you meet someone halfway with a child?”

“I don’t know, Law. You weren’t willing to compromise at all?”

“I did compromise. I let her go so she could be happy. And from what I found out recently, she got what she was seeking.”

“What you mean by that?”

“She’s pregnant.”

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