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Cut her hair into a sensible, chin-length bob?

Sign up for a pottery class just to feel something?

She had the urge to flip over all the furniture in the apartment.

She knew that other women would jump at the chance to be kept like this by Justin, to live for free and do nothing but vibe in the sunshine. She wished it were appealing to her—she really did.

But it wasn’t appealing. It was nothing short of repulsive.

It felt like admitting defeat.

She had been in Manhattan for over a decade and hadn’t become a fashion designer, the one thing she’d set out to do. The one thing she stillwantedto do.

“Justin,” she said, her voice full of all the love in the world. “I don’t want to move back to LA. I’m not done here. I need to fix my shit. Just because everyone is giving up on me doesn’t mean I’m giving up on myself.”

His face fell. “So you don’t want to be with me.”

“What?” she gasped. “No, I didn’t say that.”

“If you wanted to be with me, you’d come to LA.”

“No, babe,” she insisted. “I want to be with youhere.”

But Justin shook his head. “You’ve always known this is what I wanted to do. If you aren’t ready to take the next steps with me, I think we need to reassess.”

“Reassess what exactly?” Her heart was hammering in her chest.

“Us,” he said, looking at her with huge, sad eyes, as though he already regretted what he hadn’t yet said. “Maybe we need to take a break.”

It was like getting slapped in the face. “You want totake a break? What does that mean exactly?”

“I mean maybe we should spend the summer apart and both think about what we really want—and if what we want is each other or something else. Personally, I think I really need someone who is ready to get married and have kids. Our twenties are over, Lola. It’s getting to be that time.”

“Not you bringing up my biological clock,” she retorted. “I can’t believe you just went from wanting to marry me to wanting to take a break. It’s really all or nothing for you?”

“I want to spend the summer in LA,” he replied. “I got a visiting resident position there. You’re welcome to come with me. In fact, I wish you would—but not if you don’t want to.”

“I can’t believe you’re so willing to throw all this away,” she said.

“I am okay with this life as long as I know it’s leading somewhere,” he responded, all the fight wrung out of him, and for the first time in this conversation, she realized how sad he sounded. “I love taking care of you, because this whole time I’ve been thinking that someday you’ll be my wife. But if you’re not going to be? What is it all for,Lola?”

She couldn’t answer. She didn’t know how.

He stood up. That was when she noticed it: his suitcases were by the door.

She said, “Wait, you’re leaving right now? Did you know you’d be leaving me when you started this conversation?”

“I’m not leaving you,” he said. “I had this whole plan to fly in, propose to you, and sweep you off your feet back to LA with me. I thought it would be romantic. But I guess you’re not coming.”

“What about Capri?” she cried.

“The tickets are refundable.” He shrugged. “It’s just not the right time for us to go on a romantic vacation. Not when we don’t know what we’re doing.”

“Okay, wait. Definebreak,” she said. “Will you be fucking other women? Is that what this is about?”

“I don’t want anyone else,” he said. “I wantyou. I want you to realize you can’t live without me. And I don’t think you can do that with me here.”

“I already know that,” she insisted.