I said up there today. I want this to work between us. I want this marriage to be real.”
I huffed out a laugh, flopping down on my couch. “Robert, we’re not really married. We’ve only been back together for a month. Nothing about this is real.”
“Except the way I feel about you. Tell me you don’t feel the same.”
“Robert,” I sighed. “It’s not enough to feel something for you. We’re still getting to know each other. We can’t just pretend that what happened today was real and go with it.”
“Why not?”
“Why not?” I asked incredulously.
“Anna, it’s simple, I love you. I never stopped. I know you love me too, so instead of wasting time trying to see if this works, let’s just do it.”
I stood and paced the room, pressing my hand against my forehead. This was all too much. “Just do it? Robert, you’re insane. I’m not ready for that. You’re not ready for that.”
“Don’t tell me how I feel, Anna. I’ve never been more clear about what I want.”
“Well, that makes one of us,” I muttered.
“Tell me you don’t want me. Tell me that what happened today didn’t make you realize how much we’re meant to be together.”
“Whether we’re meant to be together or not doesn’t matter right now. It’s too fast.”
“Then move in with me.”
My eyes bugged out. I knew it was coming, but I just hadn’t believed he would actually ask.
“Move in with you?”
“Yes,” he said, surging forward to grab my hands. “Anna, if you’re not ready to get married, then fine, we won’t get married. But we can live together-“
“Robert!” I yanked my hands away and shook my head. “You’re insane. One month! We’ve been together one month. You can’t ask me to move in with you.”
“I just did.”
“Because you’re insane!”
His jaw clenched tight and he huffed out a harsh breath. “Anna, we can’t make this work if we’re living an hour from each other. So, move in with me.”
“I just got this house. You just bought it for me. Now I’m supposed to just walk away from it?”
“We’ll use it as a vacation house. We can spend weekends down here.”
“Do you hear how insane that sounds? No one vacations to Indiana!”
“You know what I mean. We can come down here on the weekends. That way, you’ll still have space from being in the city.”
“And what am I supposed to do in the city? I can’t work out of your apartment. It doesn’t work, and Eric would never go for it.”
“So, quit. You can go back to school.”
“I don’t want to quit, and I don’t want to go back to school. Robert, that time of my life is over. I’m happy where I am now. I love my job. Going back to school now doesn’t sound at all appealing.”
“But, you had dreams-“
“The dreams of a seventeen year old girl. Life has changed me. I don’t want the same things I wanted then. I have a good job that I love. I have a house in the country-“
“That you wouldn’t have without me,” he interjected.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “What’s that supposed to mean? You’ll take it back if I don’t move to the city with you?”
He ran his hand across his jaw and sighed. “No, of course not. I just…it’s like you’re trying to find a reason that this won’t work.”
I shook my head sadly and pressed my hand to his face. “I’m not trying to find a reason this won’t work. I’m just looking at the people we are and facing the facts that we’re just too different. I love you, but I don’t want to move to the city and start a new life. I like where I am. And if I moved there or you moved here, one of us would end up resenting the other.”
“You don’t know that,” he choked out.
“Yes, I do. You worked hard for that apartment and you’re so proud of it. I would never ask you to give that up. But it’s not just about that. Those people you work for, I don’t fit into that lifestyle. I don’t like them. I don’t want to be around people like that. So, I’m proud of you that you made senior partner and I hope you get everything you want, but I don’t want to go along on that ride with you.”
He stepped back from me, his eyes welling with tears. It tore at my heart and made me feel so terrible, but Eric was right. It was