I shove him backward and quickly move out of his grasp. “You have no right coming in here saying those things. My engagement isn’t any of your business.” I might not love Tom. I might be in love with the man before me, but I’ll be damned if he comes into my home being full of himself. “And my reaction to you is obviously something to do with for old times’ sake. Because Tom satisfies me plenty,” I lie.
“You’re lying!” Jake crowds me with his body against the wall. “You’re mine, Elise. You’ve always belonged with me, and now that I’m back home I plan on showing you how much you mean to me.”
If I speak right now, I’m going to be in a flood of tears.
“Elise, you know why I broke things off with you.” He captures my chin and forces me to look at him, to see the sincerity in his eyes. “I should have believed you when you said you were stronger and could handle being a Marine’s wife because you loved me. I’m sorry I didn’t listen.”
I shake my head while wiping away my tears. “We were both young back then, and the truth was if anything happened to you, whether we were together as a couple or apart, I would have fallen to pieces. And I think you know that as well.”
Jake kisses the tip of my nose before stepping back. Sliding his fingers between mine, he tugs on my hand and leads me to the sofa. Then he points toward the floor. “What happened there?” he asks.
I can’t believe he noticed the missing tile.
“I keep meaning to get that fixed, but I always forget until I trip over it.”
Jake chuckles. “Do you have a spare hidden away somewhere?”
“I do.”
“I’ll repair it before I leave.” He sits beside me on the sofa and pulls me against him.
Fresh tears brim in my eyes as I stare at the floor. He’s here for me, here to fix things like this.
Sitting with Jake like this feels as though I’m home. He’s my home, something I think my heart has always known.
“I’ve never slept with anyone else,” I blurt out, needing him to know that I’ve stayed true to him, but also feeling embarrassed. I mean, what twenty-five year old tells her ex that she’s not had sex for years because of him?
I can feel the shock in Jake as he stills at my tactless announcement. “Say something.”
He clears his throat. “I don’t know what to say. That wasn’t something I was expecting to come out of your mouth.”
“I figured I needed to get it out there, you know? It’s your turn to talk, and I’d like to know about the Marines. Your family has been damned evasive about it.”
“That’s because I wanted to be the one to tell you, and I also figured if you heard it from them while I was laid out in the hospital that you’d freak until you’d seen me.”
“Hospital?”
I feel all the blood rushing to my feet.
“Hey, I’m good. I’m here with you.” He hugs me, and ends up rearranging me so that I’m sitting in his lap. “That’s much better. Now are you going to let me continue without you getting upset?”
“I’ll try.”
He kisses me on the forehead before pressing my head against his chest.
“I don’t remember much about what happened, other than a large explosion pretty close to where I was standing. I woke up in the hospital in a lot of discomfort.”
“You mean pain. You can say it.” I don’t like the idea of him being in pain, but I don’t want him to play it down because of me.
“The pain was hell.”
Meeting his gaze, I can see the pain behind his words.
Jake runs his hands through his hair, and continues, “It turns out a mortar had exploded and shrapnel had embedded itself in my buttock, hip and thigh. If I overwork my leg, it can cause me a lot of discomfort now, but for the most part I’m good.”
“If I’d known, I’d have wanted to be there for you.”
“I know you would have, and that’s why I asked everyone to keep it quiet because they wouldn’t have let you near me. That would have hurt you.”