Page 2 of The Forbidden Center

I step closer. “Tell me. Now.”

He takes another shirt out of the drawer.

“I have to go, Astrid.”

“Why?”

“I can’t do this anymore.”

“Do what? Live here? Be married to me? Be her father? Which one?”

“I just need to get away.”

“From me?”

He doesn’t say anything.

It’s the first answer all night I actually believe.

I grab his wrist before he can reach for another shirt.

“We came here together. You said we’d have a better life here. Tova only stopped crying about school in October. My license isn’t even approved yet. If you leave, there’s nobody. Do you understand that? There’s nobody.”

“You’ll finish the license.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“You’ll manage.”

I let go of his wrist.

“You always say that like it’s the best thing about me.”

“It is.”

It’s not. It’s why he thinks he can do this.

“I don’t want to manage this.”

He keeps folding.

“Not like this.” I’m getting loud, and Tova’s right there, and I can’t stop. “You promised. You promised we’d make a life here. She walked through three terminals holding your hand because you promised her.” My voice cracks. “And now you won’t even stay the night?”

He finally looks at me.

“Stay. Please. I want you at breakfast with her. Whatever happened, tell me, and we’ll fix it.”

His face changes, but not enough.

“There’s nothing to fix.”

He says it evenly, the way a man says something he’s already said to himself in the car.

I look at the suitcase.

“Is the rent paid?”

He blinks. “What?”