“Please don’t touch me.” He wouldn’t look at her. She hated not being able to connect her gaze with his.
“I should have told you, I know that. But I also knew what it would cost me. And I’m still enough of an asshole not to want to pay the price.” His smile had no happiness in it. “And now here we are. You know who I am, and you should leave.”
“No.” She couldn’t catch her breath. “We should talk.” She reached for him again, and he winced.
“Leave!” he shouted, the sudden noise making her jump. “I can’t stand you looking at me like that. I don’t want your pity. I don’t need it.” His whole body was shaking, as though his anger was uncontrollable.
There was a tentative tap at the door. Daniel’s head snapped around. Without saying a word to her, he stalked over and opened it.
“Julia.”
“Eliana was wondering where you are. Dinner’s about to be served.” Julia glanced at him and then at Becca, her eyes widening when she saw the tears running down her face. “Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine. Please tell my mother I’ll be down in a moment. Becca isn’t feeling very well.”
Becca tried to smile through her tears. It was a big fail.
“Okay,” Julia said, frowning. “I’ll let her know.”
As soon as she’d gone, Daniel closed the door softly. “I need to go downstairs.”
“Yes. Please do.”
“And you?”
“I should leave.” She wanted to go home. To think. To be away from the intense emotions Daniel stirred up in her. She couldn’t stay here, not now. She needed the comfort only her home could give.
I’m a heartless asshole who puts himself above everybody else. Is that what you want to hear?
She didn’t believe it. But she also didn’t know how to make this evening better. She’d go and give them both some space. Eliana deserved an evening with her son. It was her birthday, after all.
Daniel stared at her, unspeaking. He didn’t beg her to stay. Or tell her he’d call her later, or say anything else that might have given her the tiniest seed of hope she so desperately wanted. Instead, he opened the bedroom door and turned to look at her, his face blank.
“Drive carefully.”
He lasted fifteen minutes before something broke inside him, and the emotions made him start to shake. He was sitting next to his mother, an empty chair next to his own, as the waiter walked around with a pair of silver tongs, offering bread to each guest.
“I need to go,” he said, looking at his mom. “I just made a huge fucking mistake.”
“Daniel!”
“Sorry.” He wasn’t even aware that he’d sworn. “But I can’t stay. I can’t.”
Eliana put her hand over his. “Is it Becca?”
He nodded.
“She isn’t sick?”
“No. I asked her to leave. She’s angry with me. She found out about the baby Melissa and I lost.”
“You hadn’t told her?”
He pressed his lips together. His hands really needed to stop shaking. “No. I’m an idiot.”
“Yes, you are. You need to go see her. How long ago did she leave?”
“About ten minutes ago, I think.” At least that’s when he’d heard the front door open and close.