A/N-I Think this chapter's the best part of the book and one of the best things I've written, so I do hope y'all enjoy it.
He woke up some time later and found himself wrapped around her, holding her tightly, much the same way she had clung to him at the beach. He stayed like that for a long moment, not wanting to move. His head no longer felt as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to the inside of it, and the world felt stable beneath him, not like he was about to fall into a bottomless void.
He turned his head and peered through the blinds to find the sun to have risen well over the window, and a look at the clock confirmed that it was nearly noon. He rolled back toward his side of the bed, and in doing so, woke her up. "Sorry, tried to let you get some more sleep. Feeling better?" He asked her, and she nodded.
"Much." She said, stretching as she climbed out of bed, watching him do the same. "Now, what to do today?" She asked, almost rhetorically.
"How about stay inside?" He suggested, opening the blinds again.
"We did that yesterday. We're only here for a week!" she argued playfully, and walked into the main room, looking around, thinking. "Hmm, I did notice two surfboards in the closet, didn't I?" A mischievous glint was in her eyes.
"No." His tone suggested that there should be no room for discussion, but she pushed it.
"What? Surfing is fun. It was the best part of California!" She opened the closet containing the two boards.
"I don't swim in the ocean, which rules out surfing. You go all you want, I'll stay on the beach."
"Awe c'mon Garret, you'll never get over your fear unless you face it." He snorted.
"Coming from someone who ran off thanks to her fear of commitment?" She turned to face him, a spark of anger in her eyes.
"Fear of commitment?"
"You can't say you don't have one, if you didn't you'd be up in Boston right now, with Woody wearing that ring he gave you. I've seen you two dance around each other and once he actually showed that he cared and that he wanted something, you run, you turn him down. You're afraid of it-Woody, that surfer that followed you here from California that you kicked out, once he started getting to close, you got scared." She was inches from him, staring up into his eyes.
"If I recall correctly, you had a hand in getting rid of Tyler."
"But it wasn't my idea, you're the one that was freaking out over how he was getting too close." She glared at him, her eyes steely and cold.
"You don't have much room to talk, when was your last date? The chick who everyone thought was killing off her boyfriends. You haven't seen anyone for more than a first date since Renee, and you haven't dated anyone seriously, well, not since Maggie. You've had your chances, but you haven't taken them. So don't go lecturing me about being afraid of commitment."
"Have you ever considered that maybe I didn't take those chances for a reason other than being afraid? I'm not afraid of commitment, I was married for sixteen years, I think I know what commitment is." He was glaring back at her, both their eyes cold and distant, at the same time, they were both displaying the raw emotion that they were feeling.
"Then what's your excuse? What's your reason, if you're not afraid, why don't you leap on the chance to be happy?"
"Why don't you?" He countered, trying to fling the question back at her to avoid answering it.
"You tell me first, you're the one that brought this up."
"You're afraid, aren't you? You're afraid of things getting out of hand, you're afraid of loosing your independence, of falling in love and giving your heart up to someone just to loose them." The words stung, he could tell they did, they bit right down into her soul, he knew he was right and so did she. "You're afraid of them leaving you like your mother did, you're afraid of them hurting you so you take the preemptive strike and hurt them first, you run so they can't." He could see the tears welling up in her eyes, but he couldn't control himself, he had started it.
"No." She said quietly, but he ignored.
"You think everyone's going to run out on you, you think you're going to be abandoned. I've got news for you Jordan, the only person who's your mother is dead, the only one to have abandoned you is dead, and you can't change that." The slap echoed through the room, and he felt guilty about the way he pushed it. "I'm not afraid. I fell in love with someone who's too self absorbed in their own problems and their own fears to let anyone into her heart, much less those who love her."
He turned and walked out the door, rubbing the spot on his cheek where he knew a five fingered red mark lay splayed across, a sign, a reminder of what he had just said, and as he walked away he heard a small sob come as she collapsed on the couch. Right now, what he needed more than anything, was a stiff drink.