Maddie stood at her door with her keys in her hand, ready to unlock it. At first Adam thought he was hallucinating. He blinked. Maybe his subconscious had materialized her image. He shook his head to clear it. She was still there. His eyes narrowed as he caught his breath.
In that instant, her eyes met his and he saw her look of panic, like that of a child who had been caught doing something they weren’t supposed to be doing. She froze momentarily, eyes wide.
Adam’s automatic reflexes must have kicked because he didn’t remember willfully moving, but he felt himself approach her.
“Maddie, is that you?”
He felt like he was in a dream. He rubbed his eyes. She didn’t respond. There was no look of happy recognition or gladness to see him. Instead, she looked as if she might bolt at any moment. Not exactly the reunion of his dreams.
Her gaze darted from Adam to the keys in her hand as she fumbled with them and tried frantically to get the key in the keyhole. But her hands shook and made the task more difficult. Adam picked up his pace, as best as he could in the walking cast. Instinctively, he knew that if she got into her apartment and got the door shut and locked before he got there, he might never see her again. She continued to fumble with her keys as he approached.
Adam said, “Maddie, wait.”
She didn’t look up. She finally got the key in the lock and started to turn it quickly with trembling fingers. Adrenaline kicked in, and he walked as fast as he could toward her. He wasn’t going to let her get in that door and shut him out. He could feel all the pent-up frustration and anger well up inside of him. She didn’t even have the courtesy to say hello to him. Instead, she gave him no more acknowledgement than a complete stranger.
Finally, she managed to get the door open and attempted to hurry inside as he lunged toward her. He made it to the door right as she was about to slam it shut. Without thinking, he thrust his walking cast between the door and the doorjamb right as the door slammed on his foot. A dull, jarring pain shot up his leg. It wasn’t excruciating, and he didn’t even care because he had managed to stop the door from shutting.
From the other side of the door, he heard Maddie yell, “Adam! What are you doing?”
“Let me in! I need to talk to you,” he yelled back.
Adam could hear the anger in his voice and he knew that she could too. He was not going to let her get away without an explanation—and without giving her a piece of his mind. He pushed on the door. She tried to hold it shut on the other side.
Her angry tone matched his as she said, “Move your foot so I can close my door!”
Oh, now it was on. Through gritted teeth Adam said, “I can’t move my foot with you pushing on the door.”
She was pretty strong and she managed to hold him out for a moment. But she couldn’t match his strength and he eventually pushed the door open.
She stepped back with a look of dismay on her face and screamed, “What the hell do you think you are doing? Get out!”
His voice was low and shook with anger.
“I’m not leaving until we talk.”
“You were supposed to be at your gig. I didn’t expect to see you.”
“Really, Captain Obvious?” he snarled sarcastically. “Tell me why you came back tonight.”
She glared at him, ignored the question, and said, “Adam, you don’t know what you’re doing. Leave now.”
His heart pounded as he stepped toward her. She took a step back. She was every bit as beautiful as he had remembered. Seeing her face-to-face again brought back all the feelings of love and passion he had tried to suppress. At the same time, he felt the hurt and anger burning in his chest. He took a few more steps toward her. She continued to back away. A storm of emotions raged inside his body and mind.
Faintly, he heard her say, “I told you we can’t be together.”
“I am not leaving until I get an explanation,” he said.
He had lowered his voice, but his anger and the seriousness of his intention was unmistakable.
She pleaded, “Don’t do this, Adam. I know you don’t understand, but you just need to go.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he hissed.
He continued to walk toward her as she continued to back up until her back pressed against the wall. She had nowhere to go. He didn’t realize that he had pressed his body against hers. He held his hands up and took a small step back to give her space, but his eyes remained trained on hers. She didn’t move.
Still pleading, she said, “Please, don’t do this. Please.”
It looked as if the fight was leaving her. Being this close to her, Adam thought that his heart would explode within his chest. He knew that he had to speak his peace and get some answers from her, or he might never get the chance again.
He tried to appear calm as he swallowed hard, took a chance, and said, “Look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t have any feelings for me. If you can do that—if you can honestly say you don’t care for me at all—then I’ll turn around and walk out the door and leave you alone forever.”
He stared directly into her eyes. His heart pounded so loudly that he was sure she could hear it. She held his gaze for what seemed like an eternity, and then she looked away as a tear rolled down her cheek. He sucked in an involuntary breath as he gently wiped the tear from her cheek.
She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t tell him that she didn’t love him.
It gave him hope.
“Don’t cry,” he
