The bubble finally burst when Teresa received a job offer from the FBI. It seemed that Patrick Jane had eventually got the right leverage, and bribed them into accepting his own terms; that was the moment Ryan had been dreading all along, for he knew that he didn't have a chance in hell against that charming bastard.
And he surely didn't have the heart to ask her to overlook a promising career with the FBI in favor of dying of boredom in a small town where her detective skills were of little to no use.
"There's nothing for me here," she admitted. "I loved the quiet at first, but it gets tiresome after a while."
"If you want to go, I won't stop you," he told her at last. "This is your life, you have to make your own decisions."
"We can make it work," she countered stubbornly. "I can stay in Austin when they need me, and come back here whenever I get the chance."
The fact that she wasn't taking the easy way out of their relationship gave him a thin thread of hope to cling onto. He promised he would give them a chance, and he was secretly planning to visit her as soon as she was settled in Austin. That also gave him the chance to finally look his rival straight in the eyes; there was an engagement ring sitting in his pocket, and he would give it to Teresa as soon as he got proof positive that she wasn't pining after her friend anymore.
Otherwise, he would have to admit defeat and get out of her life for good.
He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but Patrick Jane was nothing like it. The man that was standing beside Teresa looked more like a lost puppy than the conniving bastard he was picturing; and while he didn't doubt that Jane could be utterly arrogant and selfish most of the time, he seemed to genuinely care for the friend that had stuck to him for so long.
When Teresa introduced him as her boyfriend, a flash of pain crossed the man's features; it was only a moment, then Jane flashed a dazzling smile and stepped forward to shake his hand. That was when Ryan knew he had lost; he wouldn't have minded if Jane had tried to irk him or make him uncomfortable, but the fact that he'd decided to behave spoke volumes about the real nature of his feelings for Teresa.
Jane didn't want to upset her, while Teresa looked nothing but embarrassed for no clear reason; her heart still belonged to him – it always would, even though she herself wasn't aware of it yet.
That didn't mean Ryan would give up on her so easily. He knew it was a shot in the dark, but he still had to try; her eyes widened in surprise when he went down on his knees in the middle of a restaurant, and presented her with the ring he'd kept with him for so long.
"Why now?" was all she managed to say, and he took a deep breath to steady himself.
"I love you, Teresa. Come away with me. We can go wherever we want – just not here."
"You said you wouldn't stop me. This is my life, Ryan."
"We're in this together. You can't honestly ask me to play second fiddle to your precious friend for the rest of my life."
She blinked repeatedly, as if she couldn't believe her own ears. "Are you really jealous of Jane of all people?"
"Can you blame me for that? We're together, and yet he's closer to you than I will ever be."
"I've known him for over a decade, that's all. If you can't even trust me –"
He shook his head sadly. "I do trust you. But you've been living in denial for too long, it's time for you to open your eyes."
"Is this an ultimatum, or what?"
"I asked you to marry me. It's a yes or no question, Teresa. Take it, or leave it."
Tears filled her eyes now, and he hated himself for that; still they couldn't keep postponing the inevitable, that would only make it harder in the end. He should have addressed the matter a long time ago, therefore sparing the two of them a lot of unneeded pain.
"I can't marry you. Not yet, not in this way."
"I see," he murmured flatly, and knew it was all over. Jenny's therapist had once said that the best thing we could do for our loved ones was let them go, no matter how much it hurt us; he guessed that was exactly what he had to do now, so that Teresa could finally get the happiness she deserved.
All this time he'd been willingly shutting his eyes to the fact that she'd never really belonged to him in the first place. Patrick Jane owned so much space in her heart it was nearly impossible for anyone else to get their own place in there; and while Teresa had been genuinely fond of him, he had to admit he wasn't able to make her as happy as he wished he could.
Slowly he put the ring back into his pocket, then placed a gentle kiss on her brow. "I hope you find what you're looking for my dear."
Teresa instinctively leaned into his embrace; he had to gather all his strength to eventually pull away, and turn his back to her one last time. There was no way he would ever find another woman like her, but he would learn to live with it in time.
Jenny was going to call him names for letting go the woman he loved; however, it was exactly because he loved her that he had to do it. Now there was just one thing he needed to take care of before heading back home; there was a certain someone who needed to understand what a lucky bastard he was, and that he definitely wouldn't get away with breaking Teresa's heart once more.