Carolina Moon

the movies, and I tagged along.” His voice had gone flat, his eyes cold and dull. “They went home. I bought a bottle, I went for a drive. I got drunk, I came home. If I’d done anything else, with anyone else, I’d have been free to do so. Same as you are. That’s the way you wanted it.”
    “I never said that.”
    “You never said different.”
    “I’m saying different now.”
    “You can’t have it all your way, Faith. You want to change things, you want it to be you and me, then we start adding some of my rules.”
    “I didn’t say anything about rules.” He was twisting things. Just like a man. “I’m speaking of common courtesy.”
    “And that means I sit around here and wait until you’re in the mood for my company? I don’t think so. We both come and go as we please, unless we’re pleased to be together. Or, we make this a relationship. No more sneaking in here or off to some motel. No more pretending we’re not involved. We’re either a couple or we’re not.”
    “You’re making ultimatums?” Her voice snapped at the end, a whiplash of shock. “You’re making them to me after you kept me waiting here half the night?”
    “Frustrating, isn’t it? The waiting. Pisses you off.” He pushed away from the sink and walked toward her. “Makes you feel used and sorry and hurt. I know.”
    Stymied, she pushed a hand through her hair. “You never said anything about that.”
    “You’d have taken off like a shot. That’s your style, Faith. Sometime last night while I was sitting down at the river with a bottle for company, it occurred to me that I didn’t like that about you, and I didn’t like it about myself that I let you be that way with me. So I’m telling you now. We try to make this work like people who give two damns about each other, or we walk away.”
    “You know I care about you, Wade. What do you take me for?”
    It was more, he thought, what she took herself for. “There was a time I’d have taken you no matter what. That time’s over. I want more now, Faith. If you can’t give it to me, or won’t, I’ll live with it. But I’m not settling for crumbs anymore.”
    “I don’t understand this.” Shaken, she sat on the edge of the bed. The puppy crawled toward her on her belly, sniffing. “I don’t see how you can turn this around on me.”
    “Not on you. On us. I want there to be an us, Faith. I’m in love with you.”
    “What? Are you crazy?” She leaped up again, panic in every pore. “Don’t say that.”
    “I’ve said it before, but you never listened. It didn’t matter enough. This time it’ll have to matter or I won’t say it again. I’m in love with you.” He caught her shoulders. “That’s the way it is, whatever you do about it.”
    “What am I supposed to do about it?” There was a loose and fluttery sensation in her stomach she recognized as pure panic. “Oh, this is just a mess.”
    “Your usual response to me telling you I love you is to run off and marry somebody else.” He lifted his brow as her mouth fell open.
    “That’s not—I don’t—” Oh God, he was right. She did.
    “We could try something new this time out. We could try dealing with this like normal people, and see where it goes. We could spend time with each other, do more together than jump into bed. There’s more between us than sex.”
    She sniffled. “How do you know?”
    He laughed a little, brushed at her hair. “All right, let’s say I want to find out if there’s more between us than sex.”
    “What if there isn’t?”
    “What if there is?”
    “What if there isn’t?”
    He sighed. “Then I guess we’ll end up spending a lot of time in bed. If there’s anything left of it,” he added, and stepped over to tug away the pillow the puppy was trying to chew to bits.
    He was so solid, so smart and kind and handsome. And he loved her. But no one ever loved her for long. Lighten it up, Faith ordered herself, at least until her heart stopped jumping. “I don’t know about a relationship with a man who sleeps with little mongrel dogs.”
    “Miss Dottie dropped her off this morning on her way to church. I was too hung over to do anything but plop us both in bed.”
    “What’s wrong with her?”
    “Who? Oh, the puppy. Nothing.” He leaned over, ruffled fur, scratched ears. “Bright-eyed and healthy. Had all her shots, and took them like a champ.”
    “Then what are you doing with her?”
    “Keeping her for you.”
    “For me?” Faith took