“You leaving is letting them win,” he tells me. “You walking away shows them that they won.”
“Then let them have it,” I say. “They took everything else from me. Let them have that also.”
“Nothing I say is going to change your mind,” he tells me. “I can sit here and beg you to stay, but you are already gone.” His voice goes low. “I can beg and plead and tell you all the things, and in the end, your mind is already made up.”
“I just need to get away,” I say. “Maybe I just need to clear my head. Maybe …” I say. “I just know that I can’t sit here without wondering.”
“Our love means something,” he tells me, breaking me. “I’m going to let you go,” he says, looking down and wiping his own tear away. “Just promise me one thing.”
“Yes,” I say because I would promise him anything.
“That before you do anything, you let me know. Before you sign anything or make any decision, you tell me.”
“I can give you that,” I say. He gets up and walks away from me, stopping and turning back to me.
“For my whole life, I’ve loved you. For my whole life, my dream was to be married to you,” he says and looks down. “It was always you. I know that I’m not the whole town”—he swallows—“but just so you know, you have at least one person.” He walks up the stairs and away from me. He doesn’t even come and tell me goodbye when he leaves, and I have to wonder why would he. If he did this to me, I would have stormed out and never looked back. I pack my bag and make one more stop before I head out of town.
I walk up the steps, ringing the bell, and the door opens. “Hey,” Kallie says. “I didn’t know you were coming over.” I look down, and she must see something is wrong. “Let me get Jacob.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Beau
I walk out of the house without saying goodbye to her. I don’t go to her because if I did, I would get down on my knees and beg her to stay. I would wrap my arms around her and never let her go. I don’t want her to stay because I’ve made her feel guilty or because I forced her to stay. I want her to stay to simply stay. I want her to choose me and not have any regrets.
The drive to the office is a blur, and when I walk up to the step, I just nod to Cassie and go straight to my office. I sit down in the chair and go over everything in my head.
I don’t do anything all day. I just sit with my door closed, looking out the window. I wonder where she is or what she is doing, hoping that she knows I’m thinking about her. I pick up my phone and send her a text message.
Me: Just wanted to tell you that I miss you.
I look at it, but then don’t send it. It’s too soon, I think to myself. I watch the sun go down, and when I walk out of my office, I walk to my truck and make it back home. I open the door, and my heart sinks when I smell her. I walk up to the bedroom where I left her this morning and see that she’s taken some of her stuff.
Sitting on the bed, I feel lost. I don’t eat supper because all I can do is lie in our bed and go over our conversation. How can she think that no one wants her here? Sure, there are some who hate her in this town, but I can count those people on two hands.
I sit up in bed now and grab my phone, texting the same text to everyone.
Me: Tomorrow morning mayor’s office nine a.m. sharp. Mandatory.
I put the phone down, and when I walk into the office the next day, it’s just before eight. I walk to the conference room and set things up. When it gets closer to nine a.m., they start filing in. Jacob and Casey are the first to arrive.
Casey looks around, asking, “Do I want to know what this is about?”
I smile and then Jacob is the one who speaks up. “How are you doing without her?”
“Horrible,” I answer. “It’s one day, and I swear it feels like someone died in my house.”
He slaps me on my shoulder. “Love will fuck you every time,” he says. “I hope you made coffee.”
“I did,” I tell him, “and I got doughnuts.” They both take off to the conference room. Tony is the next to arrive at the same time as Sal, the town plumber.
“Whatever it is,” Sal says, “I didn’t do it.”
I laugh at him and shake their hands, thanking them for coming. “There is coffee in the conference room.”