“So what? I’m stable.”

“And you’re done. And I’m not. I’m not an old man.”

“I’m well aware. It’s called opposites complementing each other, Sammy. I thought that you would know something about that.”

“No. Just no.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to get married. Because I can’t be married to you,” she pushed.

“And why is that?”

His eyes were so steady, and she wanted to just say yes. She wanted to lean into him and...

No. She couldn’t do that.

“Because it would ruin everything. I’m not going to become this crazy ball and chain that you shackled yourself to because you didn’t approve of the way I was doing something. It’s nuts. Even you have to acknowledge that.”

“I don’t have to acknowledge a damn thing.”

“No. If you want to do this my way, then... I mean, of course I can’t think of a better person. A better man. But we’re not... I’m not trapping you into eighteen years of a life that you don’t even want.”

“You marry me and you’ll get health insurance. I have it through the farm union.”

“Oh, my gosh. Are you genuinely proposing that we have a marriage of convenience? And a baby and...”

Suddenly it didn’t seem crazy. For a moment it didn’t seem crazy at all. It seemed unbearably tempting.

But then reality came to the rescue. Sense came to the rescue. Because she knew she didn’t want this. She didn’t. Not even a little bit.

There was a reason that she gravitated toward men that were so different than Ryder. There was a reason that she was opposed to marriage at all. There was a reason that she wanted to keep control of her life and her child.

And it wasn’t because she didn’t trust Ryder; that wasn’t it. It was just... To trap him in a relationship he didn’t want anyway...

He would never hurt her. She knew that. It wasn’t that she thought he might be violent like her father. She had lived under an oppressive cloud of two people who weren’t in love living in the same house. She had seen firsthand what it did to people. She didn’t want it. Couldn’t stand it.

“I can’t do that to you. To us. To me.”

“You’d rather have a baby with someone you don’t even know.”

“Yes,” she said. “That’s the point.” Except suddenly that didn’t seem as appealing as having his baby except... “Why do you have to be so uncompromising? Why can’t we figure out maybe a different way to do it? Why do we have to do it your way?”

“Because it’s going to have to be my way if we do it. I can’t be unconventional. You said it yourself.”

“Yeah, but you can dig in and be miserable. You’re good at that. I won’t be the reason that you are.”

She turned and walked away from him, anger bubbling up inside her. She knew that he wouldn’t follow her, not when she was in such an irritated state with him. She went over to the bar, and she signaled for Laz. “Hi,” she said.