Page 69 of Slowly, All at Once
“What?” My eyes opened wide.
“Camille, you can hurt me.”
Quietly, I said, “I’m also sorry, Jacob. I’ve only ever loved you too. My heart hurts sometimes when I think about what we could have had.”
“Me too.” He reached out to lace his fingers with mine across the back of the couch. “I hate to ask…” He paused. “Did they tell you the sex?”
I shook my head, tears welling in my eyes. Jacob pulled me toward him, and I sobbed into his chest. His hand cradled the back of my head as he whispered words of love and comfort.
He whispered, “I don’t want us to hurt anymore, Camille. I don’t want us to hurt each other.”
To his shirt front, I mumbled, “I love you, Jacob.”
He pulled my head up. “I love you, too.”
With sweetness, he kissed me, a loving kiss that promised forgiveness. When the kiss turned to more, he gently pushed me back from him.
“OK, so, I know this is shifting gears a bit but I have lots to tell you.”
“You’re giving me whiplash tonight. This is why a phone call would have been nice.”
“A mistake I will not make again.”
“Is it about your trip to California?”
“Yeah, that, and I have a surprise for you.” He kissed me again.
I frowned. “I don’t like surprises. I want everything to be open between us.”
“Me too, but I think you’ll like this surprise.” He rose from the couch. “I can’t stay. I have an early meeting in the morning, and I need to go back to California for a few days.”
“Again? When will you be back?”
“I’ll be back for Christmas,” he said, pointedly pausing so I would look at him. “I’m not leaving you, Camille. It’s just a few more days.”
“Not until Christmas Eve?” I stood as well. I was shocked, and a little nervous that he was running again.
He took me in his arms. “Camille, please trust me. I’m not running. I’m all in. I just have to finish up a few business things.”
He released me, and I shook the cobwebs from my brain. “So, Christmas Eve?”
He smiled with all of his perfect white teeth showing. “Yeah, at Mia’s?”
“Right.”
“Camille,” he said again. “I’m not leaving you, believe me.” He went to the door. “OK? I gotta go before the roads get really bad.”
I called after him, “Are we doing gifts?”
“Of course, we’re doing gifts.”
He’d reached his truck so I had to shout, “And we’re not breaking up…again?” I asked, because I couldn’t help myself.
He shouted back, “Not even close.”
*
The next few days flew by with a flurry of getting the calendar to print, promoted and distributed to retailers.