"You have said it in too many ways to count, but jilting me at the altar was the biggest one."
"I didn't jilt you at the altar. I jilted you to your face, but you were too arrogant to believe I meant what I said."
"Arrogant? Trusting you to mean what you said was arrogant?"
"I meant it when I said the wedding was off."
He ran his hands through his hair. "Why? Why was it off?"
"Do you remember saying my job was an embarrassment to you?"
"Sì. That was unacceptable, but you do run away from your own wedding because your groom says one foolish thing?"
"Even if you meant it?"
"I was arrogant about that, I admit it. I had ideas, this picture in my head of what a perfect family would be like."
"And in that family, I didn't have a job." She scooted up in the bed, making no attempt to hide her nudity.
His grey eyes flared with interest, but then he met her gaze, his expression almost contrite. "That was wrong of me."
Not almost. He was sorry. Good. Maybe there was hope for them yet.
She nodded. "It was, but it wasn't just that."
"What else?"
"I had this feeling, like I could never measure up to the perfect wife you wanted me to be, and I'd spend my whole life trying to be perfect and never being able to earn my family's love."
"So, you thought I would eventually treat you like they do?" he asked, clearly appalled at the idea, and also offended. "I would not have done that. You were, and are again, precious to me."
She about melted on the spot, but precious wasn't the same as loving. "I wanted you to love me. I thought maybe you did, only then you made all those plans without even talking to me and I knew you couldn't, could you?"
"Love?" He shook his head, letting out a sigh. "I'm not a romantic. Not like my father and brother."
Right. That's what she'd finally realized. "But you wanted to marry me. Why?"
"We fit. In bed and out of it, or so I thought."
"I did too. Until I didn't."
"Until you did not." He sighed again. "I guess you need to take some time and decide if you think we can fit again."
"I thought you were going to try to persuade me."
"I make no promises not to do that, but for now, I think we both deserve time to think."
She nodded. He was right. Of course, he was right.
So, why did him leaving her room like this feel so wrong?
Annette found the next week odd and if she were honest with herself, trying.
She and Carlo were living in the same house, but he'd started sleeping in his own guest room. They ate breakfast together every morning, though he had to interrupt his already busy workday to do so. He also joined her and Jo-Jo on their daily walk.
Both of which showed his commitment to spending time with her and their niece, but the intimacy they had shared even while at odds was gone.
They talked about Joyce and Fantino, the business, and even Annette's job and what she might want to do going forward. They did not talk about their relationship and the topic of marriage was not brought up again between them. Annette was afraid Carlo had changed his mind and was interested in shared custody rather than a shared life.