“No, you can’t. So we go from here. Did you leave out anything else I should know?”

“The woman who drove off that cliff was named Helen Remington. Mrs. Evan Remington. I don’t answer to that name anymore. It’s not who I am.”

“Remington.” He said it softly. She could all but see him flipping through some mental data file. “Hollywood type.”

“That’s right.”

“You got about as far away from that as you could manage.”

“That’s right, too. I’ll never go back. I’ve found the life I want here.”

“With or without me?”

For the first time since she’d begun her story, her stomach clutched. “That’s up to you.”

“No, it’s not. You already know what I want. Now it’s what you want.”

“I want you. You know that.”

“Then you have to finish what you started. You have to end it. File for divorce.”

“I can’t. Haven’t you heard anything I’ve said?”

“Every word, and more that you didn’t say.” Part of him wanted to soothe her, to draw her close, shelter her. To tell her none of it mattered now.

But it did.

“You can’t live your whole life wondering, looking over your shoulder, or pretending three years away. Neither can I. For one thing, it’s going to start eating at you, and for another, the world’s a small place. You’ll never be sure he won’t find you. If he does, or if you’re afraid he has, are you going to run again?”

“It’s been more than a year since I left. He can’t find me if he thinks I’m dead.”

“You’ll never be sure. You have to end it, but you don’t have to end it alone. I won’t let him touch you. This isn’t his turf,” he said, lifting her face with a finger under her chin. “It’s mine.”

“You’re underestimating him.”

“I don’t think so. I know I’m not underestimating myself, or Ripley, or Mia. Or a lot of people on the island who would go out of their way for you.”

“I don’t know if I can do what you’re asking. For more than a year I’ve focused on doing everything I could to make certain he doesn’t find out I’m alive, he doesn’t find out where I am. I don’t know if I’ve got it in me to step out again. I need to think. I need you to give me time to think.”