Page 103 of Last Summer

“You remembered.”

He shrugs off his jacket. Folding it lengthwise, he lays it on the king bed and looks at Ella. Their eyes catch, and he says, “I remembereverythingabout the night we met.”

Ella’s entire body warms. “Me too,” she whispers.

“I...ah...” He glances at his watch. “My flight leaves at seven.”

“Seven?” She looks at the clock. He’s only giving them three hours. Two until he has to return to the airport. She was hoping he’d spend the night with her.

“Early morning meeting.” He looks at her apologetically.

“Oh, okay. So...how’s work?” she asks, hating how she feels awkward around her own husband.

He walks to the window, looks down at the Strip. “Fine.”

“The investigation?”

“Over,” he says, turning back to her. “Thank god.”

“Oh! That’s great.” She wishes she’d known. She would have wanted to be there with him to celebrate. “What did you find out? That’s okay if you can’t tell me. Corporate confidentiality and all that. I get it.” She crosses her arms.

He rubs the back of his neck, lets his arm fall to his side. “I want to tell you, but—”

“Will you tell me why your dad wants to put you out of business?” she blurts. “Will you tell me why you didn’t invite them to our wedding or call them on Christmas? Why don’t they ever call you on your birthday?”

“Ella,” he says, slightly irritated.

“I’m sorry.” She pushes out a breath. “That’s not how I wanted to start this.” She takes a deep breath and refocuses. “There are two things about me I want to share with you. One of them I should have told you when we started dating.”

“Why didn’t you?” he asks curiously when she pauses.

“After seeing the way my mom treated my dad—she was way too honest about her feelings and it destroyed them—I was scared. I thought if I was honest with you, it would tear us apart. Now I’m hoping my honesty will do the opposite. Bring us closer together.”

Damien slides his hands into his pockets. “All right. I’m listening.”

“I wasn’t truthful when you first asked if I wanted kids. You told me you didn’t, and I was afraid that if I said I did, you wouldn’t want to be with me. I had already fallen in love with you. I guess I thought I could give up my dream of having kids if it meant I could spend the rest of my life with you.”

“But you didn’t give it up. You still want kids.”

“I do, and I need to tell you why. Do you remember me telling you about my friend Grace?”

“The one who committed suicide?”

“Yes. This probably sounds silly, but we used to play house when we were little. We’d made a pact that when we grew up, we’d name our daughters after each other. I’ve never told anyone, but Grace left me a suicide note. I found it under my pillow. She asked if I remembered our pact. She then wrote, and I quote: ‘Please name your first daughter after me so that I can go knowing you’ll never forget me.’

“I could never forget Grace. But I felt so guilty about what happened, and I’ve always wanted to fulfill her wish.”

Ella inhales a shaky breath and she feels tears glide down her cheeks.

“El,” Damien says, his voice full of compassion. Coming over to her, he cups her cheek and wipes away the moisture with his thumb. She leans into his hand. It feels so good to have him touch her again. His mouth parts and she holds up a finger.

“I have one more thing to confess.”

Damien lowers his arm.

“I didn’t just intentionally forget Nathan. I tried to forget that I wanted to have children.”

Damien falls back a step. He frowns. “How did you figure that out?”

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