Chapter 2: What I had wanted to do…
I wouldn't leave her side. She had strictly refused to be taken care of by anybody, but she should have known me better, than that I would let her turn me down on this.
"Steve, I mean it."
"So do I. I won't leave you here," I replied. "I'll stay here or you come over to me."
She smiled. "Resistance is futile, or something along those lines." She sighed.
"Yes."
"Strange…" she said and turned to the window. "In the past weeks, those in which you hadn't been here, I've been pretty scared."
I froze. I didn't know why.
"But now… I don't know… now I'm not, not anymore." She turned around again. "Are you really sure that you want to stay here?"
"Yes." I didn't have to hesitate.
"You don't have to."
"I know."
"It's not going to be pretty."
"I know."
"I can't stop you from staying here, can I?"
"No."
She smiled again and just shook her head. "I should have known…"
I relaxed again and walked over to her. "You should've." She had always been much smaller than me, but now, she seemed to be even tinier and fragile, even though she would have proved this statement wrong if I had ever said that aloud…
"Now that I think about it," she looked up at me, "I've wanted to do some things before…"
"What?" I was confused. Tony was more than just sophisticated. She'd been in cities and countries whose names I would never be able to pronounce. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I've already been Lord knows where, but you've never been with me." She stepped back. I've always wanted to travel around the world with you."
"With me?"
"With who else? There's so much I want to show you, so many places you should've seen…"
"We have been on vacation together before…"
"Steve, L.A. barely counts. What I mean is London, Paris, Rome, Moscow. Such cities. Los Angeles was a business trip, more or less."
"I still liked it." I knew what she was talking about. I also had plans that ha d turned to dust now. "Let's do it."
"What?"
"Let's do it. I'll quit my job, I'm gonna find another one. We're going to travel around the world."