“I thought you left?”
He nodded. “I’m heading to the airport now.”
I crossed my arms. There was so much I wanted to say. So much I wanted him to say.
“I tried to stay away,” he rasped. “But I couldn’t leave without seeing you one more time.”
Just when I thought my heart couldn’t break further, it did. This was my chance, maybe my only chance to say what I needed to say, so I could at least sleep at night, knowing all my cards were on the table.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for a lot of things. I should have told you the whole truth. My reasons seem flawed now, but they came from a place of logic. I wanted to be strong, wanted to live a new life, one that didn’t include this nightmare that has been following me around since I was a kid. But I want you to understand that I would never use you. I just wanted to be the kind of woman you could be proud of.” I met his eyes and my throat closed up a little. “I wanted to be the kind of woman I could be proud of.”
His brows sliced down, and a look of pain crossed his face. A single tear escaped my eye.
“I love you, Jack. And it hurts so much, but I’ll never be sorry for that.”
His jaw clenched so hard I thought his teeth would snap. His whole body looked like it was humming. His hands flew out so fast I didn’t see them coming. He cupped my face and pulled me in for a searing kiss. I felt all the pain and tension thrum through him. I squeezed my eyes tighter, more tears coming, and wetting his cheeks as well as mine.
He pulled away quicker than he’d come and stepped back.
“I am proud of you,” he said, gravel lining his words. His cheeks were wet from my tears, but it was then I noticed the slightest bit of moisture coating his own eyes. “You are strong, and it’s time you realize that…without me.”
“We can work through this, can’t we?”
A sad smile lined his face. “Maybe someday. But not today. I’ll be busy in London for the foreseeable future.”
“Then, we make it work.”
“All of my focus needs to be on the project,” he said quietly. “Timing is everything, Lana. And our time is up.”
He turned and walked toward his car. Tears rolled down my face. Part of me wanted to cling to the notion that maybe he loved me. Maybe he loved me so much that he was leaving so I could find myself, for myself. He was giving me what I wanted.
The other part of me watched his back as he walked away, and my entire world crumble. Because walking away was something you don’t do to people you love. I stood there and fought for him, and he turned his back on me.
“You knew about London from the beginning. So, was this timeline something you set up from the start?” I called after him. “From the moment you chose to put me in your path,” I used his words back on him, “was this whole thing just a countdown to now? To you leaving? Were we doomed to have an end date?”
“Yes.”
That single word shattered the final pieces of hope I held to that Jack and I could bounce back from this. But he’d set the clock from the start, and the alarm went off. Time for me to go back to the real world. And it devastated my entire being.
“Lana?” he said before getting into the car. I met his gaze. “I believe you. About everything.”
I cupped my hand over my mouth to keep from retching.
He believed me.
Despite the nasty things Anita said, the way the meeting went down, and even about Brock. He believed me.
But it didn’t change the fact that he was leaving, and we were over.
With a final look of his dark eyes skating over me, he got into his car and drove off.
Taking half of my soul with him.
Epilogue
“One week from today you start school,” Harper said. “Here’s to fresh starts.” She clinked my glass and took a sip.
It was a beautiful afternoon, and we sat on the porch drinking spiked lemonade. And as I promised, I gave myself a week to be a devastated wreck about Jack, and I was done now. Well, I was trying.