Page 29 of The Mountain Man's Mail-Order Mafia Princess
“That’s not what I asked.”
“It’s the answer I have.”
“You can leave. You know I didn’t accept the placement. Your father’s point has already failed.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m required to retreat.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
“You’re implying that returning with you is irrational.”
“I’m asking whether you’re staying because you want to or because leaving feels like losing.”
The sandwich wrapper crackled beneath my fingers.
“My reasons don’t have to satisfy you.”
“No, but they should probably satisfy you.”
I stared at him.
Jonah took another bite.
“My therapist would tell me to distinguish between a reactive choice and an intentional one,” I said.
“What would you tell yourself?”
“That I’m eating a dry sandwich in a general store with a man who asks intrusive questions while pretending he doesn’t.”
He unscrewed his water. “That didn’t answer it.”
“It bought me time.”
“Did it work?”
“No.”
His crooked smile appeared.
I looked down at my sandwich.
The driver could’ve been summoned. The week could’ve ended. Daddy would’ve called it proof that I couldn’t function without the world he provided.
I looked at the phone inside my handbag, then at the dust caught along Jonah’s boot beneath the table.
“I don’t know yet,” I said.
His smile faded. He waited.
“I know I don’t want to leave today.”
“All right.”
“That isn’t permission.”
“I heard you.”
I took another bite of the sandwich.
