Page 37 of Fly Back to Me
I inhale a small breath, jaw setting to maintain composure. “So, you pull away from me instead? You just assume I can’t help you through all thesefeelings?”
Jenna sighs, her fingers folding a few loose strands behind her ear. “Why can’t you just understand that I need space to sort through my emotions?” Then her fiery glare lands on me. “I don’t have to tell you every little thing, Cade, but I’m trying to explain to you why I’ve been distant the best I can.”
“You’re hardly explaining anything, actually,” I retort, stripping my hand off the door to stroll around her. “Seems tome you don’t need me for a lot of things.” I busy my hands over my desk, shuffling random papers in a pile while my heart caves in.
“What does that mean?”
A mocking laugh expels from my throat, but I refuse to look at her. “Exactly what I said, Jenna. You don’t exactly touch me the way you used to.”
Silence infiltrates the tight space, the tapping of her sneakers the only sound filling the small room. Her body hovers behind me, and my hands abort their mission. Wafts of her jasmine scent tease my nose, delicate palms grazing the planes of my back through my hoodie. “Maybe we just need to rekindle the romance. Take time for just the two of us.”
Her hushed voice sends my eyes hooding, and I briefly embrace the tender shiver she sends through me. But asgoodas she feels, I’m unconvinced in the same breath.
“You said the same exact thing a month ago,” I counter, my tone steady. “What’s going to change this time?”
Her hands halt over my back, my cue to turn around and level with her incoming defenses. “You know, I came here to actually try and talk to you about this.Reallytalk about this.”
I catch her defeated eyes as I gently shake my head. “I don’t know, Jenna,” I confess quietly. “I really don’t know what to do anymore.”
“Well, if you’re so unhappy with me, then maybe you should just break up with me.”
Every time.
Jenna’s favorite line toward the end of “talking” things out. Like she wants me to be the one to terminate the relationship, just so she can be relieved of whatever weight she’s carrying. This way, she gets to clear her mind of any shame that comes along with those pounds of guilt. It’s so predictable at this point that my stomach curdles harshly the second she utters the wornphrase.
I gesture my chin toward the door. “You wanna be set free? There’s the door. Go. No one’s stopping you.”
Jenna’s sapphire stare pinches. “I never said that. Stop putting words in my mouth.”
“You didn’t have to,” I assert, tossing an arm in the air. “It’s written all over your face and body. So, if you want to break up, then pack your stuff and leave the house. I’m not going to force you to be with me if you don’twantme. It’s the last thing I’m ever going to do.”
Her lenses glaze over, but there’s never a tear that sprouts free in these moments. “Would it really be that easy for you?”
I nod, my voice coarse when I answer her. “If I found out what I think to be true, then yes, it would be, Jenna. And I wouldn’t be asking you to pack up your own shit. I’d be throwing all of it outside on the street.”
“How gentlemanly of you,” Jenna quips, pinning me with slitted eyes.
My response is stoic. “No more courteous than youfucking somebody else.”
She scoffs, her head whipping to the side as her hand surfs through her long locks. “You’re ridiculous.”
I hold out my hand. “Then let me see your text message log and who you’ve been talking to. You think I don’t notice things, but I do.”
Jenna’s face contorts in sheer offense. “No, that’s insane. I’m entitled to my privacy.”
“I’m not asking to read the messages; I just want to see who you’ve been talking with. If it’s friends and family, and there’s nothing to hide, then show me. I’ll even letyou control the scrolling.”
Her head shakes, brows crinkling simultaneously. “No, you’re being crazy.” She sighs before flailing her arms. “This.Thisis the very thing that makes me not want to touch you the way I used to.”
“Keep blaming me if it makes you feel better, but don’t insult my intelligence.”
With an abrupt spin on her sneakers, she’s walking toward the office door. “This was obviously a mistake. Clearly, I can’t even talk to you about shit anymore.”
“Walk away like you always do,” I mumble.
Just as she grabs the brushed knob, her body whirls around. “What was that?”
“Go,” I demand, popping my chin in the direction of the exit. “It’s what you’re good at.”
