‘I’ve spent the entire evening barely able to keep a grip on my self-control. That isn’t something I can keep doing, Fliss. It’s destructive and I won’t let myself go down that road. You have to put an end to this madness.’
‘You’re asking me to choose between you and my mother?’
The look she cast him was one of pure anguish that sought to rend his very soul.
‘No. I’m asking you to choose between you and your mother. You need to cut all ties with her because, until you do, nothing is ever going to change and you’re worth more than...this. A poor carbon copy of the Fliss I know.’
The slow, mocking clap behind him made them both start.
‘Well, that was very touching, darling. But you can’t honestly expect my daughter to choose a temporary fling like you over her own mother?’
‘Fliss,’ he said quietly.
Ash willed her to speak out with every fibre of his being. He could do it for her, he had no issue with that, but ultimately it wouldn’t mean anything. This was something Fliss had to do for herself.
‘You can do this.’
She didn’t speak, didn’t move.
‘I rather think you have your answer.’
The triumphant tone was unmistakable but Ash didn’t care. His only concern was the woman he now knew for certain that he loved. The question was whether she loved him enough to come back to him now.
The silence seemed to smother him.
He did have her answer.
But it wasn’t an answer he could live with. For his own sake, he had to walk away.
Wordlessly, Ash strode into the bedroom, shoved his belongings into his overnight bag, all the while straining to hear Fliss. His gear packed, he slung the bag over his shoulder and headed back out into the hallway. Fliss hadn’t even moved from her spot in the kitchen.
Something inside finally shattered into a million pieces as Ash left without a backward glance.
He couldn’t afford one.
CHAPTER TWELVE
‘I WOULDN’T WORRY about it, darling; it’s for the best. You were never going to be able to hold onto a man like that, anyway.’
Fliss turned, the exultation in her mother’s expression like a slap on the face. But she was already reeling from everything Ash had said.
He loved her?
He loved her?
It had sounded too incredible to be true. The ground had pitched and shifted beneath her feet and all she’d been able to focus on had been staying upright as she’d tried to work out how her entire world had now changed.
He’d told her she was worth more. Told her that she deserved more. And she’d thought talk was cheap, but he’d proved it to her by telling her he loved her. It had been like watching a fireworks display—the Army kind her uncle had taken her to where they’d used up all the end-of-year pyrotechnics for a display that surpassed anything in the civilian world. Just like being with Ash surpassed any other relationship she’d ever known in her life.
She understood why he’d said he couldn’t be around her if she couldn’t even stand up for herself. She’d known all evening that his iron control was slipping but she hadn’t been able to help him, because that would have meant helping herself. And she hadn’t thought she was good enough for that.
Ash had proved to her she was, and she’d been so stunned that she hadn’t reacted fast enough.
And now she’d lost him.
But he’d still left her with a choice of her own. To accept her life as it was, her relationships as they were, or to finally stand up for herself. The least she could do was ensure that losing him wasn’t for nothing.
She turned to her mother, determined to find out whether the chasm between them had ever stood a chance of being bridged or whether Ash was right, and her mother would never change.