Page 107 of Missing Pieces (Men of Manhattan 3)

"Not ever, Tyler. You lied to me."

"I never lied to you. It's a long story..."

"And I don't have time to heart it!" She bit her bottom lip, but it didn't hide the fact that it was trembling. "I called the recruit depot. They didn't have any record of you even enlisting. You left me for no reason without saying goodbye. And went to New York? To see someone else? I'm not an idiot, Tyler. I can connect the dots."

"That's not what happened."

"It doesn't matter what you say. I'm not going to believe it. I can't believe anything you ever said to me. God, I don't even know why we're having this conversation." She pulled open a drawer in the desk and held out two credit cards to me. "These are yours. I didn't use them. And I tore up the check, so you don't have to worry about that. You can go now. I don't owe you anything else. We're done here."

"We're not done."

"Yes, we are. We were done as soon as I got all the letters that I sent you back. And you read them! You knew I was hurting and you ignored me. So yes, we're done. You never gave a shit about me. I was just too naive to see it."

"I never got those letters."

She shook her head as she opened up another drawer and pulled out a handful of envelopes. "Not only did you get them, you read them, you asshole. And then returned all of them to me. You're heartless."

"Hailey, I swear to God I never got those letters. I..."

"I don't care about your excuses. I needed you and you weren't there. You promised me you'd write back. You promised." Her voice cracked. "I told you about my mom. You knew how much that would hurt me and you did it anyway. So I'm not going to let you lie to me anymore. I need you to leave. Now."

Shit. "Hails, I didn't lie..."

"Don't call me that." She put her hand on her chest, like it physically pained her to hear me call her by her nickname. "You need to go."

"But I..."

"I don't need you."

"Hailey."

"What did you expect, Tyler? Time doesn't stop just because you want it to. Time doesn't stop." She was shaking. She put her hands on the desk to steady herself.

"You wanted to know why I'm here. I'm here to start my life with you. I'm here because I love you."

"Well I don't love you. I just got caught up in the moment. And now the moment's over." She set her mouth in a straight line.

"Nothing's changed. My feelings for you, if anything, have gotten stronger."

"Please stop."

"Can't we just pretend that the last week never happened? Can't we go back to Santa Monica and just continue where we left off?"

"My dad died."

Fuck. She needed me. I wasn't there for her. Damn it! "Hails, I'm so sorry." I wanted to reach out for her. I wanted to comfort her. But it seemed like she was in pain looking at me. I had hurt her and I had no idea how to fix it.

She shook her head. "You said I wouldn't be alone. I have never felt so alone in my entire life, Tyler. If anything, meeting you made all of this way more painful because I let myself hope. I'm done. I'm tired. So I'm going to focus on saving the one thing that's left of him. And I can't have any distractions. I think it's best if you leave."

"But I can help you."

She shook her head again. "I don't need your help."

"Hailey." I could hear the desperation in my voice. "Remember what we have."

"A summer fling. That's it." She put her arms in front of her stomach, closing herself off from me. "That's all it ever will be. I don't love you."

"It's more than that, and you know it.

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