I lifted my shoulders and shook my head. A reason for what? But the defeat in her eyes left me tongue-tied. I’d messed up and didn’t know how.

She opened the door and asked the driver to wait a minute, then turned to me. Wind ruffled her hair. My hands itched to bury themselves in her silky strands.

She stuffed her hat on her head. “Between the trust and your work, I don’t know what to think about us. You asked for more time, but for what?” She lifted her chin toward the restaurant. “So I can watch you on your phone for the next fifty years? So you can work so hard you have a heart attack like your dad? Tonight, you said you had no reason not to be working.” She stepped closer and cupped my face, her hands warm despite the cold weather. “You need to find your reason.”

She released me and put distance between us. “Can you unlock the pickup so I can grab the groceries?”

I didn’t respond but went to the pickup and retrieved them for her. She managed not to touch my fingers as I handed the bag to her.

“Everyone depends on me. Everyone at the company depends on me.” I should’ve kept my mouth shut. She should be my priority and I’d just admitted that I worked so hard for everyone else.

“Do you think what they need out of you is to never see you?”

“It’s how I can best serve them.”

“And what about yourself, Aiden? What do you want?”

The answer came easy. “You.”

Sadness darkened her eyes more than the night sky. “You have a funny way of showing it. Good night, Aiden.”

And she was gone. I had to go in and leave more money for the food. Take my entree to go. I wasn’t hungry.

For once, I had been honest with my feelings, and it had done no good. Too little too late.

I’d asked her for more time and then wasted what she’d given me, just like I had the last four years.

CHAPTER 11

Kate

Light streamed through large picture windows. The ceiling was arched, lending an openness to the space that would’ve been smothered with regular-height ceilings. The apartment’s open floor plan did the same. A spacious island and ample counter space were inviting, and each of the two bedrooms was large and square.

For a moment, I was alone in the living area. I closed my eyes. Traffic buzzed outside those massive windows. The muffled echoes of slammed doors resonated through the walls. Voices carried down the hall.

No matter how beautiful, it was still an apartment. Way more sizable than the hole I’d lived in after I’d gotten my master’s and landed the job at the library. But an apartment all the same.