Sophie's Point of View
Sophie stood up like she'd been burned.
"I'm not pushing you away," she said.
But it was a lie and they both knew it.
Theo just waited. He didn't argue. He didn't defend himself. He just sat there on the couch and looked at her like he had all night to hear the truth.
Sophie couldn't stay still. She walked to the window and looked out at the street below. At the city that had never been kind to her. At the life she'd built in desperation.
"My father left when I was three days old," she said. Her voice sounded like it belonged to someone else. "Three days. My mom had just had a baby and he decided that wasn't what he wanted. So he left."
She could feel Theo listening. She could feel his attention on her back like something physical.
"My mom raised me alone. She worked nights. She slept during the day. She loved me but she was always exhausted. Always worried. Always afraid that any day I'd decide to leave too because that's what people do. They leave."
Sophie's hands were shaking so she put them in her pockets.
"When I was young, I learned that love and loss were the same thing. That if you let someone matter, they'll eventually hurt you. That depending on anyone was the fastest way to get your heart broken."
She turned to look at Theo.
"Then I met you. And you made me believe that maybe I was wrong. You showed up and you paid attention and you made me feel like I was the only thing that mattered. For three months, I believed in something different. I believed that maybe love didn't have to end in abandonment."
Theo's face was getting darker. Like he was remembering.
"Then I got pregnant. And I told you. And you looked at me like I'd just destroyed your life. You offered me money to make it go away. You offered me money to disappear. And when I said no, you just left. You walked away and you never looked back."
Sophie's voice broke but she kept going.
"I raised our daughter alone. I worked two jobs. I barely slept. I built a life where it was just me and her because I learned what you taught me. That people leave. That love is dangerous. That depending on someone is the worst mistake you can make."
"Sophie—" Theo tried to say something but she cut him off.
"And now you're here and you're being kind and you're reading bedtime stories and you're bringing me coffee and you're making me start to believe again. And that's what terrifies me. Because I know what you're capable of. I know that you can just disappear when things get too hard. I know that you can use money as power. That you can own us. That you can leave again and this time it won't just destroy me. It'll destroy Lily."
She was crying now. Years of holding it together were coming apart.
"I can't do that again. I can't let myself love you and then watch you leave. I can't let Lily get attached to you and then have her wake up one day and you're gone. So yes, I'm pushing you away. Because that's the only way I know how to survive."
Theo stood up. He walked toward her slowly like she was something frightened that might run. When he got close enough to touch her, he just held her. His arms came around her and he pulled her against him and he just held her while she fell apart.
And then he started to cry.
Sophie felt the tears fall on top of her head. She felt his body shake with sobs he'd probably been holding since he arrived in Chicago. He was crying for the six years he missed. He was crying for the fear in her eyes. He was crying for all the moments he would never get back.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so sorry. I was scared and stupid and completely broken and I hurt you in a way I can never fix."
Sophie pulled back enough to look at him. His face was wet with tears. His expression was devastated.
"I left once," he said. "I spent six years regretting it. Every single day. I built this whole empire and made all this money and none of it meant anything because you weren't there. Because Lily wasn't there. Because I knew what I'd thrown away."
He put his hands on either side of her face.
"I'm not leaving again. Not ever. I'll prove it to you. Every single day. I'll show you that I'm different now. That Lily changed me. That you changed me. I'm not the man who walked away. That person doesn't exist anymore."
Sophie wanted to believe him. She wanted to surrender to the possibility that maybe, just maybe, he meant it.
But belief was terrifying.
So instead of answering, instead of using words that might betray her, Sophie kissed him.
She pulled him down and kissed him like she was trying to consume him. Like if she kissed him hard enough, he'd have to stay. Like the intensity of her need would be enough to keep him from ever leaving.
It felt like coming home.
It also felt like destroying everything.
When they finally pulled apart, Sophie was shaking. She buried her face in his neck and whispered something she swore she'd never say again.
"Please don't break my heart again."
Theo held her tighter and whispered back a promise she wanted desperately to believe.
"I won't."
But Sophie knew better than to trust promises. She'd learned that lesson a long time ago.
All she could do was hold onto him and hope that this time, he meant what he said.