The thought of never seeing her again is too painful to even imagine, so I push the thought away.
“This was nice, and it’s been fun talking to you, but—”
“Don’t finish that sentence,” I warn.
“But it’s not happening.” She does it anyway, purposely being defiant. God, how she makes my body heat.
“You say that like it’s inevitable, when in reality what’s inevitable is you and me, Emma. Don’t pretend like you don’t feel this.” I bring her hand across the table and put it over my heart. “It didn’t start beating until last night when I saw you.”
“Beckett.” She says my name so softly, but there’s a sadness to it.
“No, don’t do that. Don’t push me away because you think there’s no way I can keep you.”
“I just don’t want to get my heart broken. Is that really so hard to believe?” She pulls her hand away from my chest, and I let her do it, but don’t let go of her hand. “I do feel something, okay?” she finally admits. “I just don’t have the luxury of seeing this through. Not when I don’t have any other choice.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.”
“We’re meeting at a really shitty time.” Emma looks out the window as I squeeze her fingers. “I can’t stay here anymore, and being with you would only make it harder to go. I don’t have a choice, so I won’t make this harder on the both of us.”
A long moment of silence passes while I let her take a breath. Then I lay down all my cards.
“I want you to answer one question, Emma,” I say, and she finally looks away from the window to meet my eyes. “If your situation was different, if you didn’t have to leave, would you be mine?”
She doesn’t blink as her dark eyes bore into mine, and then ever so slightly, she nods. I wait because I want to hear her say the words and after a heartbeat, she does.
“If I was staying, yes.”
When I smile at her, she looks confused until I throw some bills on the table.
“Are you finished?” I ask, and she nods. “Good, then let’s go.”
“Yeah, I should probably get to my next lab.” She gets up from the table while trying to avoid looking at me.
“I think you’ll miss it,” I say as I take her hand in mine.
“What? Why?” She has to move her feet faster to keep up with my long strides as I hurry us out of the restaurant.
“Because we’re getting married.”