Page 153 of Worth the Fall

“Just remember when you’re building a relationship, you need to hear what the other person isn’t saying. Those are the words that are the most important.”

I remember the look she gave me tonight. The pride and the pain. The will and the want. The apology and the blame. So many unspoken words I heard loud and clear.

“Do you love her?” The sincerity in his question throws me.

But the honesty in my answer does even more so. “Yeah, I do.”

I’m not sure what I expected his reaction to be, but he just nods as if my answer is no surprise to him and gets a soft smile on his lips. “Then these little blips will be worth it. You’ll recover from the fallout. She’ll forgive you.”

“Trust is a hard thing to earn back.”

“Agreed.” He gives a measured nod. “But remember, you don’t need to know the details of her past to love her heart in the present.”

I fall silent as I mull his words over and know they are truer than I care to admit. I think of all I’ve done thus far to prove to her I want her to stay and all the things I haven’t even gotten to show her yet.

“You’ve always loved that girl,” he says softly, as if he’s remembering back, and I wish I could, but so many of my memories are of her not being there. “Have you told her yet?”

“I’m not sure she’s ready to hear it.”

Or maybe I’m afraid that, if she does, she’ll run.

“You don’t give her enough credit. She’s tougher than you think, and maybe that’s where you’ve underestimated her. You have to be all in or get all out. There is no halfway when it comes to love.”

There’s nothing I can say in response so I watch as he walks to the door of the conference room. “And there’s no time like the present since she’s been sitting out in the waiting room for the past several hours.”

“What?”

“Ramos told me you were free to go when I was done with you.”