“Of course itinterests me. But that’s hardly the point right now.”
“Oh. What is thepoint? Please enlighten me.” Chloe crossed her arms.
“You could have left anote. But the point is you are recovering from an accident. Youshould be resting. I don’t know why you would want to come backhere. Haven’t you been happy with me? You don’t have to work. I amperfectly capable of taking care of you. Giving you what you need.You only have to ask.”
“I want to come backhere because I need to finish my house. I also need to havesomething to fill in my days. I can’t sit with my sketchpadplanning out ideas all day long without putting them into practice.But there is one important fact you are missing here. You didn’task me to stay. You haven’t discussed anything with me since theaccident. You havemade all the decisions. To my understanding, it was going to be atemporary situation until I could get back on my feet and finish myhouse.”
“Of course I want youto stay with me. I love you, Goddamn it.” Todd’s body language wasanything but loving.
“You sure have a niceway of showing it. Yelling down the phone like I’m your dog or yourservant.”
“You’re exaggeratingthings. I don’t think of you that way. Sure, I may have soundedangry, but that was because I was worried, and annoyed, and…”
“… and I copped it,because I did not follow the Todd Baker rules.”
“Look, Chloe, I don’tknow why we are arguing, just get in the car and let’s go home andwe can discuss it over dinner.”
“No.”
“What do you mean,no?”
“I mean I am not goingback to your apartment. It’s yourhome, not mine, Todd. I am stayinghere.”
“You can’t stay heretonight, it’s a mess.” Todd moved towards her to take hold of herupper arm. “Be reasonable, you don’t have your things, it’s coldand dirty. It’s a building site for God’s sake. Comehome.”
“Kindly let go of myarm,” she said through clenched teeth.
He dropped her arm as instructedand took a step back.
“I am staying heretonight. I don’t want to discuss this with you now. I’m not achild, and I’m tired of defending my actions. I’ve taken care ofmyself since I left home at eighteen. My mind is made up. I want tobe home.”
He stood staring at her, hishands clenched at his sides.
“You don’t have toworry about me. No, don’t look at me like that. I can tell whatyou’re thinking. I will be fine.” She turned and walked towards thefront door. She stopped with her hand on the doorknob, her headbent, fighting back the hot tears that threatened tofall.
“Go home, Todd. I’mtired, and I don’t want to argue anymore.”
“Okay Chloe. I’m goingbut I am not happy about this at all. I don’t want to leave youhere. This is crazy. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“I think I need sometime to think things through. I will call you when I’m ready totalk. Maybe we moved too fast. I didn’t consider how long you’velived by your rules. You didn’t consider how I long I’ve lived bymine. Loving me doesn’t mean you can take over my life.”
She walked inside, closing thedoor without turning back.
Todd returned to thecar and drove home on autopilot. When he finally became aware ofhis surroundings, it surprised him to see the familiar walls of hisapartment’s underground garage. He sat in his car, hands stillclutching the steering wheel, unable to move or get out for thelongest time. She had told him to go. He couldn’t get his headaround it. Sure they argued. Don’t allcouples argue? So why did his heart ache asif someone had plunged in a knife?
As dawn broke and paleyellow rays filtered into the early morning grey sky, Chloe stirredfrom her restless sleep and reached out for Todd. It took a secondor two before she remembered she had slept in her own bed, withouthim. Todd’s exasperated tone of voice broke into her thoughts.“I love you, Goddamnit.” He had said it, but it sounded like acold fact, not a loving declaration.
No point in staying inbed. The scene from yesterday played out in her head for thehundredth time and would not allow her to return to sleep.Time to make coffee and start the day.Alone.
Coffee in hand, she roamed thedownstairs rooms, taking note of what they had achieved, and whathad yet to be done. The contractors would be back at seven. She hadarranged an early start.
The sooner she resumedher routine, the sooner she could finish her house and put all thisanxiety behind her. Hell, who was she kidding? Maybe she needed togo back to Paris for a while and think about her future. Possiblyshe did love Todd, but she could not see a future where the man sheloved made all the decisions without even consulting her. She couldnot be happy being told what to do, and not valued for heropinion. I made that mistake once, andI’ll never make that mistake again.
Long before Chloe had opened hereyes, Todd had already completed a session at the gym. In fact, hehadn’t slept. He had tossed and turned all night, until he couldn’tstand to be in the apartment a moment longer. No point in tellinghimself not to worry. Worrying about Chloe and about those he lovedhad become as natural to him as breathing.
He had willingly become thepatriarch in the family when their parents had died. Looking afterPatrick and his younger sister Audrey had become second nature tohim. When Patrick showed an interest in building and renovating, hemade him a partner and formed Baker Real Estate Renovations. Thenwhen Audrey asked for his help to go to medical school inSwitzerland, he found the money and pulled out all the stops. Asthe eldest he considered it his responsibility to look aftereveryone’s best interests. His personal needs came last; his familycame first.
Maybe I shouldn’thave been so controlling. He hadn’t meantto hurt anyone, or to override Chloe’s feelings. Couldn’t sheunderstand he had been scared to death when
