Julian filled a tea kettle with water and set it on the stove. He heard footsteps behind him just as he was reaching for the knob to start the burner.
"Hey," he said over his shoulder. "Do you want tea or hot chocolate?"
"You want to explain this?"
The abrupt accusation in her voice was plain as day. Leaving the burner off, he turned to face her.
Marti stood in the doorway with papers in her hand and barely-controlled anger on her face.
Julian silently cursed himself for not destroying those damned papers. "You weren't supposed to find that."
"You had it all this time?" Her eyes flashed at him, a mixture of anger and betrayal, and she couldn't even find the rest of the words to express what she was feeling right then. "Julian — what the hell? !"
He tried to turn the tables on her. "And what the hell were you doing, going through my dresser?"
"And you didn't go through my stuff?" she fired back. "You stole this from my bag!"
"Marti —"
"And these!" She held up the stack of job applications that had gone missing from her dorm room. "These papers you supposedly never saw! I even felt guilty for actually thinking you might've taken them, and the whole damn time you were lying to my face!"
He clenched his jaw and looked away, shame creeping up on him.
"Why steal these?" she demanded tearfully, struggling to understand. "Why sabotage me? Do you really not believe in me the way you say you do? I shouldn't pursue anything that doesn't bear the Julian Parrish Stamp of Approval?"
"You are so far off track —," Julian's voice rose above hers, his stubborn nature and experience as a lawyer unwilling to let him back down.
"Then what is it?" Marti pleaded, still clutching her handful of papers. "God damn it, Julian — what? !"
"I don't want you to leave me."
His words were so hushed that she wasn't sure she'd heard them right. "What?"
Julian gave a helpless little half-smile and a resigned shrug of the shoulder, leaning back against the counter for support. "I'm in love with you. If you leave Memphis…you'll be leaving me, too. And that's just…not acceptable."
Her head was spinning at his truly unexpected confession. "You're in love with me?" she echoed in almost a whisper.
His manner now completely subdued, he replied simply, "I am."
Her anger ebbed away as she searched his eyes and found only truth in them. "Why couldn't you just tell me that in the first place?" she finally asked.
"I didn't know how," he sighed sadly. "You have your whole life ahead of you. So much to offer. The thought of holding you back nearly kills me. But the idea of losing you…that's even worse."
Tears pricked her eyes as she stood there just looking back at him. She'd never seen him look so lost before — so…defeated.
She swallowed, looking down. She still gripped her list in her hands. The list that represented her future in a place she thought she'd wanted it. But now, all of a sudden, they were just a bunch of words on paper.
She took a breath, in and out, thinking. Then she crumpled the pages together in her hands and released the wad to the floor.
Julian watched the papers fall from Marti's hand, discarded, and a smile crept onto his lips as he dragged his gaze back to her face.
He'd won, and he knew it.
In hindsight, he wasn't entirely proud of the way he'd handled it — but he'd gotten the result he wanted and he knew that Marti's career would not be any less satisfying or successful if she stayed in Memphis.
Now he simply extended one hand in Marti's direction, a contrite expression on his handsome face.
Unable to resist or deny him when he looked at her like that, she put her hand in his and allowed him to draw her into his arms.
Emotionally and physically drained from their intense confrontation, all she could do now was wrap her arms around his middle and bury her face against his chest.
He held her tight and pressed a kiss to the top of her damp hair before resting his cheek there.
She sniffled into his t-shirt that was still a bit wet from the rain. "I think I might love you too, by the way."
His spirits lifted a little. They would have been soaring if she hadn't included 'I think I might' with the 'love you' part…but for now, he'd take what he could get.
"I'm so sorry I made you think I didn't believe in you," he told her.
"Thank you," she answered forgivingly. A silly, random thought occurred to her and she chuckled.
"What?" Julian murmured.
"For someone who's not a hugger, you sure do it well."
He gave a soft laugh too, holding her even closer. "Only with you, Marti. Only with you."
