Ramona gaped at his broad back. “You were waiting for the right time? Well, you missed it. It came and left. Now you’re dealing with this time.”
He faced her again, his forehead furrowed in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“The right time would’ve been the minute the idea entered your head to ask Foster for your tenured faculty position back.” She jabbed a finger toward the multicolored area rug. “That would have been the right time, Q.”
“I didn’t want to just spring this on you.” Quincy dragged a broad hand over his clean-shaven head. “I wanted you to know I had a plan.”
“You’ve created an entire plan that involved Foster agreeing for you to return?” Ramona straightened in surprise.
“Yes.” Quincy nodded like an eager puppy.
“And you’ve done all of this without even once consulting with me?” A red haze of anger returned to cloud her vision again.
For a beat, Quincy seemed at a loss for words. “Honey, I didn’t want to get your hopes up until I knew that Foster would agree.”
Ramona wrapped her arms around herself. Fine tremors of anger shook her body. “I thought we were a couple, Q. I thought we were trying to build a life together.”
“We are.” He looked hurt. But not as hurt as she felt.
“Then why are you making plans for our lives without talking with me first?”
Quincy spread his arms. “I wanted to know if my idea would work. I wanted something to offer you as an alternative.”
“What if I enjoy living in Philadelphia? Suppose I didn’t want to leave? Did that ever occur to you?”
Quincy circled the sofa. “I didn’t do this to upset you.”
“Well, you managed to anyway.”
Quincy stopped pacing. He set his hands on his hips and faced her squarely. “What if I’d come to you and said I wanted to move back to Trinity Falls but first I need to know whether Foster would rehire me?”
“Then we would’ve had a basis for our conversation.” Ramona waved a stiff hand between the two of them. “But you went off on your own, without even telling me what you were thinking. I had to find out from someone else that my boyfriend met with his former boss. Do you know how unsettling that was for me?”
“Who told you?” Quincy frowned.
Ramona blinked. “What difference does that make? You have no right to be angry with the person who told me. You should be disappointed in yourself that you didn’t tell me.”
“Do you really enjoy living in Philadelphia?” Quincy looked troubled.
Ramona threw up her hands. “That’s not the point, either.”
“But do you?”
“No.” Why couldn’t he see how wrong his actions had been? Was this really acceptable behavior to him? “I’m homesick, too, Quincy. I want to return to Trinity Falls, as well. But that’s not the point.”
His eyes widened in surprise. “But if I did something that benefits both of us, why are you angry with me?”
Ramona’s head was about to explode. “Because you designed your plan without taking me into consideration. We’re supposed to be in this together. We’re supposed to be a couple. But you acted on your own. And the fact that you can’t see that you were wrong and why your actio
ns hurt me tells me a lot about how you view our relationship.”
Fear entered Quincy’s coal black eyes. “What are you saying?”
“I wonder if you and I even have a relationship. Or have I been deluding myself this entire time?”
Ramona turned away. She hurried into the bedroom and closed the door behind her, ignoring Quincy’s pleas for her to talk to him. They’d done enough talking. Now it was her turn to come up with a plan.
Dinner was almost ready when Doreen heard Alonzo’s key in the door Thursday evening. She’d grown to love that sound over the three weeks that they’d been living together. But tonight, in addition to a burst of happy anticipation, she felt a flicker of dread. She wasn’t looking forward to telling him about her conversation with Leonard.