Good boy.
I shifted so Harmony and Romeo were behind me and stared the weasel down. “You need to leave. Now. Don’t ever come back here. If I hear that you’ve stepped foot on this property or harassed Miss Briggs in any way, I will file charges against you myself for animal endangerment and I will advise Miss Briggs to file a restraining order.”
His beady eyes twitched with anger, but apparently he wasn’t a total idiot because he stomped down the steps, cursing the entire way to his car, and left.
We stood and watched him drive away and as his taillights turned the corner I said, “You dated him?”
“Yep.” She stared up at me coldly. “I have horrible taste in men. Obviously.”
“Harmony—”
She walked past me up the porch. “Thanks for helping me with Tim. I could’ve handled it, but thanks. Goodbye, Hudson.”
“Harmony, please. Just give me five minutes. I know I fucked up. A lot. But, please just let me explain.”
She let out an unintelligible grunting sound that told me she seriously doubted my ability to do that.
“Let me try to explain.”
“Fine. Five minutes.” She held up her hand, demonstrating the number five. “Your time starts now.”
At her agreement, I took a full breath for the first time since I’d seen her walking away from me in the parking lot.
She unlocked the door and I followed her inside. “Where were you? I’ve been lookin—”
Faster than a tornado, she spun around and pointed her finger in my face. “No! You don’t get to ask the questions here.”
I lifted my arms in surrender. “Okay. I’m sorry.”
With a huff, she turned back around and took a seat at the far side of the couch. Crossing her arms, she stared straight ahead at the wall. Romeo curled up by her feet.
I’d never seen her look this closed off. I stood in place, not knowing if I should sit or stand, or even what to say.
“Four minutes, Superman.” She kept her eyes forward as she put up four fingers.
Shit.
Chapter 26
Hudson
“Tellin’ a man to get lost and makin’ him do it are two entirely different propositions.”
~ Loretta Reed
“I love you,” I blurted out.
Her lip trembled, but she still didn’t look at me.
“I’ve loved you for so long, I don’t remember what it’s like not to love you. I tried to deny it. To avoid it. To avoid you, but then… I couldn’t. I know that I haven’t bee—”
“Why did you say I wasn’t a forever girl?” her voice trembled slightly, but she kept her chin high and her eyes locked on the wall.
“Because you don’t want forever. You don’t want the white picket fence, two-point-five kids, suburban life. You want to have a Sex and the City life, or better than Sex and the City life—”
“Who told you that?” She finally looked at me.
“You did. The night I picked you up at the bar. But, I knew before then. Not the Sex and the City part, but that you wanted to move to New York or, I think it was L.A. for a while. That you want to live abroad and travel. That you never wanted to get married or have bab—”
“You don’t know what I want,” she snapped.
“Yes. I do. Believe me, I do. I’ve paid attention, remember?”
She shook her head slowly. “People change.”
“Harmony, the reason why I haven’t told you how I feel about you or acted on what I felt, was because I am not going to be the guy who takes your dreams away from you. I won’t be the guy that you settle for.”
“That’s what you think of me. That I would settle?” She stood up and faced me, fire blazing from her eyes.
I smiled, I couldn’t help it. I’d missed that fire. “No. Not intentionally. But, I think what we have is something so strong, so real that it could trap you into a life that might make you happy for a while, but eventually you’d get restless. You’d resent me for trapping you.”
“Do you honestly think I don’t know what I want? What would make me happy? You claim to be ‘paying attention.’ Is that what you think of me?”
I felt like I was walking through a conversational minefield. One wrong move and I would detonate a bomb.
“Harmony, I’m just trying to explain why I’ve been such an asshole. I’m so sorry for saying the things I did, treating you the way I have. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but I was just trying to do the right thing. For you. I love you. All I want is for you to be happy. That’s all.”
The truth. Finally. It felt good to say the words out loud. Like a fifty pound weight had been taken off my shoulders.
The moonlight streaming through the window highlighted her wide, emerald eyes as she stepped forward. She looked so open, so exposed, I wanted to reach out and pull her into my arms, but I resisted the temptation. I knew that if I did, it would just confuse the situation even more.