Page 145 of The Rebound
“Try not to sound too disappointed,” she murmurs.
“You weren’t answering your phone,” he explains as I pinch her hip. “I dropped by your house, but Tomasz said you two had come here and I…” He glances at Louise, trailing off.
“Could you go please?” I ask her.
“How are you going to get back?”
“Luke will bring me home.” Like he always does.
She hesitates but Louise likes Luke a lot more than she likes Tyler, so eventually she just nods. “I’ll see you at the house.”
I wait until she drives off, thankfully a little less manically than before. “It’s been a busy few weeks for her,” I say.
Luke watches me warily before his eyes flick down, taking in my outfit. I’d dressed up for my conversation with Tyler. Of course I had. Styled my hair and did my makeup, put on a nice dress. Little things. Me things. But a me he’s probably not used to.
“I shouldn’t have let you walk away the other day,” he says. “I’m sorry.”
“You were upset.”
“I was furious,” he says flatly. “But not at you. Well, kind of at you. I thought you were going to go back to him.”
“I told you I don’t feel anything for him anymore.”
“I know.” He closes his eyes, looking tired. “I know,” he says. “I’m—”
“You have to—”
“Just let me finish,” he says quickly. He looks at me then, and the intensity of his gaze almost takes my breath away. “I came here to tell you that I’m falling in love with you. Or maybe I’ve already fallen. I don’t know. But from the moment I picked you up in that parking lot, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. And I mean that, Abby. Every day. Every moment, no matter how hard I tried not to. I can’t bear the thought of you going back to him. Of you being with anyone but me. And I know how that sounds and I know it’s selfish and I know you’re not owned by anyone but I love you. I love you and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. I was scared yesterday that you didn’t mean it or that you didn’t know what it meant. I was scared you would take it back.”
“I’m not taking it back.” The words come out as a whisper. It’s all I can manage right now. “I gave Tyler the ring,” I say. “I don’t want to be with him. I don’t wanthim.”
I want you.
The words are on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t say them. It wouldn’t be fair to him. Not yet.
“There’s something I have to tell you,” I say, and he straightens at my tone.
“You got the job,” he guesses, and for the first time I can remember, I can’t read anything from his expression. “New York?”
“Toronto. They opened an office there last year so there’s space and… I’m going to take it. I’m going to say yes.”
He doesn’t say anything for a long second, as though waiting for more. When I stay silent he glances away, his expression tightening.
“So that’s it then?” he asks eventually. “Back abroad?”
“It’s what I want. Maybe what I need. I wouldn’t be happy here in the long run. Not really.” Even if here there were things to make me happy. “I can’t turn down this job, Luke.”
“I know you can’t. I don’t want you to.”
There’s a burning in my throat that won’t go away. “I just feel like everyone secretly expects me to stay.”
“Theywantyou to stay. That’s different. But you have to live your life for you, not for anyone else.”
They’re the words I’d hoped he’d say, but now he’s saying them I don’t want to hear them. I don’t want to hear them at all.
“I just thought you…” I try to stay calm, feeling a hint of annoyance at the resigned look on his face. “That’s all you have to say?”
“What more do you want me to say?”
