Thomas & January (Sleepless 2)

“Stop that poundin’!” A neighbor yelled from his window a few homes down.

“January!” I yelled, ignoring him. I repeatedly pounded again and again, desperate to see her.

The door whipped open just when I thought I couldn’t take another second. “What are you doing?” A disheveled January asked me. God, she was glorious to look at!

She pulled me inside and closed the door. Her eyes were red and made me want to kick my own ass.

“January,” I began, but she cut me off with a finger to her lips.

“Quiet, my aunt and uncle are asleep.”

“Sorry.” I reached for her but thought better of it and reigned my hands back in. “Please, January.”

“Why are you here, Tom?” she asked, folding her arms across her attractive chest.

“I’m trying to explain to you what has been happening to me these past few days.”

“I thought we already covered this,” she spit out.

“No,” I said, growing peeved. “Listen to me. Just let me explain, damn it!”

“Fine,” she gritted.

I took a deep breath. “I’m in love with you, January.”

“No, you’re-”

“Stop! Just let me say this.” She didn’t say anything, so I continued. “I’m in love with you, but I need your forgiveness because I’m going to admit something I’m really ashamed of.”

“Okay,” she answered in hesitation.

She took a step back, wounding me, but I continued. “I, uh, I listened in on a conversation you had on the phone a few nights ago and I made some assumptions. I thought you were working with Jonah, letting him know our exact location. I thought you were two-timing me.”

“I would never do that,” she said simply.

“I know that,” I confessed. “I should have come to you about it, but I was so angry and felt so betrayed, I-”

“Is that why you made me go to Reine alone?”

“Yes,” I admitted.

Tears sprang to her eyes and I reached for her.

“No,” she said, holding up her hands to stop me, breaking my heart. “Let me get this straight. You thought I was giving away our locations to that asshole and instead of coming to me and asking me about it, you assumed I was that untrustworthy, that my proclamation that I loved you was just bullshit?”

“It’s shitty, I know, January.”

“No,” she said, laughing sarcastically. “What’s shitty is that you thought I could fake all that. That every moment we’d ever shared on the road was not genuine.” She shook her head. “That makes me sick to my stomach, Tom.”

She ran her hands across her belly and stepped back. She wanted distance. I took hold of her, panicked she was about to say what I thought she was about to say.

“Don’t,” I said.

She brought her tear-filled eyes to mine. “But you already did. When you assumed I could be the type of person to do that, you admitted you didn’t know me at all. How can you claim to love someone you don’t know?”

“No,” I told her, hugging her tighter, willing her to forgive me. “Don’t, January. Please, I’m sorry. So, so sorry. Please,” I begged, “I couldn’t survive if you broke my heart.”

“Stop,” she said, openly bawling. “I’ve heard enough.”