Page 79 of Some Saviors Can Break You

“But the serial killer was from her past. Nothing to do with her job. That could have happened no matter who she was or what she did,” Elliot reasoned.

Okay, so he didn't have a good argument to that. “I knew that she was in danger, Elliot, and I let her go back there alone. I practically threw her into that situation.”

“So, this is about you and your guilt.”

“No. Yes. Maybe. I don’t know.”

“You want to know what I think?”

“Do I?”

Elliot chuckled. “I think that you’re being stupid. You’re throwing away the best thing that ever happened to you because you're being stubborn and unreasonable. I know that our experiences shape us. Susannah almost walked away from what we had because of hers, she let it cloud her thinking, getin between us, she thought she was doing the right thing in that moment, but when she really looked at it, she realized that nothing was worth ruining what we had. You're going to regret this. I understand you're afraid of losing another person you love, that must be terrifying, but cutting things off with Florence before you can fall any further in love and possibly lose her is going to be your biggest regret.”

Eli didn't even have to wonder if that was true.

It had been less than twenty-four hours since they broke up, and he already regretted it.

The problem was whether loving her and watching her die was worth the risk.

“I can't imagine my life without Susannah, Bessie, and Jakey in it. The thought of losing any of them makes me sick, but when it boils down to it, I'd rather love them and lose them than never have loved them at all.”

“That’s deep,” he said with a half-smile. He wasn't used to seeing the man who had been his playmate as a child, and had a reputation as being hard and rude be so sensitive and introspective.

“Being in love does that to you. No one can make this decision for you, Eli, but as a man who saw the whole world differently once I met Susannah, let me just tell you that it’s worth it. Whatever you have to do, do it. Whatever you have to deal with, deal with it. Whatever you have to come to terms with, come to terms with it. Don’t let the best thing that is ever going to happen to you slip away. Don’t be Florence’s savior, her hero, and then be the man who destroyed her.”

Elliot stood and left his office, leaving Eli staring after him.

It wasn't him who had the power to destroy her it was Florence who held the power to destroy him.

Could he risk it?

Could he really ever think it was better to love her and lose her than not love her at all?

10:57 A.M.

She was sick of moping.

All Florence had done since she got home yesterday was mope.

She’d slept a little, but her dreams kept being punctuated with images of Eli. His charming smile, his cocky attitude, his lips which possessed the ability to make her body and her mind turn to jell-o.

She missed him.

Missed him with every ounce of her being.

It felt like she was missing half of her soul. She felt empty, walking around as only half a person was awful. She couldn’t think, couldn’t settle to anything, she wasn't hungry even though she hadn't eaten since the ice cream date in Eli’s penthouse.

This was ridiculous.

She was sitting around like some middle school girl who had broken up with her boyfriend, but she wasn't twelve years old. She was a mature woman in her mid-twenties, she was a logical, sensible person, she didn't run and hide from things, she found a way to overcome them.

That was what she had to do.

This problem with Eli had to have a solution.

It had to.

Every problem had an answer.

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