"Are you really here?" he whispers.
"I'm here," I whisper back.
"Why?"
Why?
I walk toward him and suddenly feel calm. This is where I'm supposed to be. But he still has some explaining to do.
"Because I'm done running."
"Jules, what happened on Monday…"
"We'll get to that. I have a question first." His eyes narrow on mine.
"What is it?"
"Can I have my necklace back, please?"
Nate's whole body sags as he sighs and closes his eyes in relief. He reaches in his pocket and pulls out the necklace. "I've been carrying it around for four days."
He holds it out to me, but I shake my head and turn around. "Will you please fasten it?"
I pull my hair out of his way and he fastens the lovely silver heart pendant around my neck, but doesn't touch me.
Not yet.
And that's okay because once he starts I'm not going to let him stop and I need to hear what the fuck happened on Monday.
"Let's sit." He leads me to the sofa and we sit. I kick off my shoes and pull my legs up under me and turn to face him. He brings one leg up on the cushion and faces me too. We sit like this for a minute, just looking at each other, until I feel tears pool in my eyes.
"Don't cry," he whispers. "I can't stand it when you cry."
I shake my head and look down at my hands, then take a deep breath and look back up at him, the tears under control.
"I'm listening."
"Where did you go?" he asks, his voice low and eyes fierce.
"I was at Will's."
"Are you okay?" he asks.
"I'm getting there," I respond.
"You're done running, Julianne." He clenches his eyes shut for a moment and then looks at me again, his eyes sad and filled with longing. "I can't take it when you run away from me."
"Nate, Monday was…"
"I know exactly what Monday was, and you would too if you'd have listened to me."
"It hurt," I whisper. "I needed you more Monday afternoon than I've ever needed anyone, and you weren't there for me. You didn't fight with me, for us. It made me feel insignificant and like everything we had was nothing."
"I know, baby." His voices softens and he reaches a hand out to run his knuckles down my cheek but I pull back out of reach. He flinches. "Jules."
"Just tell me what happened."
"You won't let me touch you? Does that mean that you just want an explanation so you can leave for good?"
I swallow hard and look at his beautiful hands and shake my head slowly, but I can't talk. Not yet.