“I love you, too. And I’m not mad at you, not anymore. I was mad, don’t get me wrong, I was furious. But I can never stay mad at you. The thing is, I don’t think we can work through this. You’re impulsive, you’re an idealist, you want to help everyone, and that’s part of the reason I fell in love with you. But …” She stopped, closed her eyes, and took a breath. “But I don’t think I can live like that. This is all so hard for me, and I keep trying, but it’s too much.” She sighed. “I wish we could go back to how it was before. When we were just Olivia and Max, two people falling in love. I didn’t … I never expected to fall in love with you, you know. I thought we would have a fun little fling and it would all be over. But I kept getting in deeper and deeper. And your job makes everything so much more complicated.”

He felt like his whole world was crashing around him.

“No, please, don’t do this. Fuck my job, this is about us. I don’t have to … I would do anything for you.”

Another tear fell from her eye, and she brushed it away.

“You love your job so much, and you’re so good at it, and we need you there, now more than ever. But I just can’t take this anymore. The calls from reporters, the nasty articles, the photographers, the weird comments from clients … I can’t keep doing this, Max. Every week it’s something else. And you need the kind of partner who I can’t be—you need someone who looks perfect all the time by default, someone who doesn’t have any baggage, someone who isn’t obsessed with her job, someone who can be a perfect political wife in all of the ways I can’t. I don’t want to mess this all up for you.”

He couldn’t let this happen. He couldn’t lose her.

“Olivia. No. Please. I need you. All I need is you. Please don’t do this. You say you don’t like impulsive decisions, don’t make this one! Take some time, think this through, don’t give up on us.”

She shook her head.