Page 151 of Reckless
“No.I came in here to find out if you’ve done anything stupid since the restaurant.”
That got my attention properly.
“Yes.”
I sat with that for a beat.Then another.
“No,” I said.
Roman stepped into the room and shut the door behind him.“You canceled the zoo acquisition at eight-fifteen this morning.”
I stared.“You know everything.”
“Not everything.Enough.”He came farther in, set his coffee on the edge of my desk, and sat in the chair opposite me.“That was the correct first move.”
“First.”
“Yes.”
I looked away toward the windows because hearing my own life reduced to moves made me want to throw myself through the glass.
“She left,” I said.
“Everyone knows.”
“That does not make me feel better.”
“No.”
The word sat there, calm and deeply unhelpful.
I laughed once without humor.“I don’t know what to do next.”
Roman watched me for a long second.Then said, “That’s because you’re still trying to figure out how to fix it.”
I looked back at him sharply.
His gaze didn’t shift.“You can’t fix this.No gift or gesture fixes anything.”
That landed because it was true enough to hurt.
Some part of me had still been turning the night over for strategy.Not how to win her back exactly.I knew enough now to understand that if I thought of Kelly in terms of winning, I was already lost.But how to address it.How to show her I’d understood.How to prove the understanding was real and not panic at losing her.
And this was same instinct already trying to put a structure where honesty should have gone first.
Roman saw that happen in my face too.
“You have to go against your nature right now,” he said.“Tell her the truth.”
“Which truth?”
“The one you’re afraid of.”
“I’m not afraid.”
“You are terrified.And that’s actually progress, because it means you’ve finally understood what you could lose.”
“Roman.”
