Stop.
“Fuck you,” she hissed.
He reeled back, hand falling from her arm. “Teresa,” he said softly.
Disapprovingly.
And yeah, so maybe the next thing she did was very dramatic, but her anger had been ratcheted higher and higher and so…
She just snapped.
She reached into her purse and tossed the papers on the porch.
They scattered everywhere.
“What the fuck, baby?” he whispered.
“You lied to me. You said you wanted to change. That you wanted something different, and there it is”—she jabbed a hand in the direction of the papers—“the fucking evidence that you’re going to do the same old shit all over again.”
He pushed one of the papers to the side, bent and picked it up. “This? Seriously?”
Her temper frayed. “You promised me that you were going to find something that you loved doing and you’ve been hiding this from me this whole time. The offer was a month ago, the start date is next week! When were you going to tell me?”
“You think I would keep a job away from you?” he asked. “Seriously?”
The evidence was right in front of him.
So, she just pointed to the papers. “The proof is right there.”
“Papers,” he said. “Papers I’d shoved in a corner of my kitchen, that I hadn’t taken action on because Iwasn’tgoing to take action on them. I interviewed before I quit. I knew I wasn’t going to take the job—”
“Then why is there a fuckingwelcomepacket in there, and why are there dates for you to come in for orientation?”
“Because no one is stupid enough to turn down a job at Robotech!” he snapped. “Except me, apparently.” He kicked his foot through the papers, knocking them to the side. “I knew I wasn’t going to take the job, so I didn’t bother doing anything with them, especially because everything happened with Mel, and I quitmyjob, and we were sorting our shit out, and I was trying to figure out what the fuck it was that I wanted to do for the rest of my life—”
He broke off.
And it was a good thing.
Because her belly had begun churning.
That instinct that had told her to pause, to stop and think—the one that she’d ignored? Well…she was realizing now that she should have paid attention.
Should have taken that moment.
But she’d come home early to surprise him.
And he hadn’t been there.
And the papers had been there, right on his counter.
Taunting her.
Telling her that everything they were working toward was going to unravel. He wasn’t learning. It was all bullshit, all a farce.
All something she’d misunderstood.
Just like she’d misunderstood her mom.