“So I should invite him on a picnic?” She looked at him curiously.

“If that’s the excuse you have to use. The other option is to go to a counselor and have a mediator.”

“Oh, I don’t think he’d ever go for that. He wouldn’t want a stranger learning anything about him. Plus, that would be an admission that things aren’t great in paradise.”

“Well then, try to get him to spend a little time. Tell him you need to talk to him about something important.”

“He’ll just say ‘go ahead.’”

“That’s when you need to be firm. Not nasty. Not mean. Just firm. Don’t waffle. And if he doesn’t want to give you the opportunity to have a discussion, then you could threaten him with a separation.”

Tori looked horrified. “Wow. All of my thoughts are coming to life. It’s one thing if you’re thinking about doing something. It’s an entirely different matter when you actually have to do it.” Tori sighed. “I know you’re right. I’ll muster up the courage to ask him to take a walk with me. I might leave out the ‘talk’ part until we’re actually outside.”

“You don’t want to blindside him either.” He leaned in her direction. “Give it some thought. Write down what you want to say and memorize it. I always find writing something down gives you more clarity.”

“Thank you so much. This has been a big help.” Tori was no longer misty. “You’re right. I can’t expect him to know what’s on my mind if I don’t tell him.”

“You said you had ‘grown apart.’ Maybe you can replant some seeds. Oh my, no pun intended. Sorry.” Layton’s face went red.

Tori chuckled. “That’s OK. Kinda funny.” She sighed. “I’ll try to remember what it was about him that made me like him. The running-away part is kinda obvious. We were both running away from bad situations.”

“You know what you were running away from. It’s never too late to figure out where you want to run to.”