Page 99 of Where You're Planted

“Why not what?”

“Why can’t we…I don’t know, Tans. Start over. Try again. I’m different. You’re different. You’re about to lose your job. Your house is in okay shape—you could sell it now and maybe not even take a loss. And I could finally make everything right.”

“Makewhatright?”

“This,” he said, gesturing back and forth between them. “Us.”

“Charlie, I don’t need you to make us right.”

She’d madeherselfright.

“I fucked it all up before. I know I did. And I respect that you made me prove myself before you let me back into Briar’s life. But I never wanted back in with only her. I wanted—Iwant—my family back.”

Tansy closed her eyes. She didn’t know what to say. She was stuck on every detail his proposal glossed over—selling her house, pulling Briar from her school, moving…where, in with him?—when the truth was simple. He hadabandonedher. When the shit had hit the fan, he’d chosen himself and his mother—hispeople, which had not included her and Briar. Although Briar deserved to know her father, deserved to have a relationship with him, and although Tansy had worked hard to put aside her past with him for what was best for Briar, she just could not forgive and forget that.

And why did men keep throwing theirplansat her?

“I’ve worked on myself,” Charlie said, straightening to present his case.

“I know you have.”

“I’ve processed losing my dad. I’ve learned how to handle stress. I’m in a good place financially. I’m not going to fall apart again.”

“I didn’t think you were.”

“Well, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t do all that work foryou, Tansy. To prove that I can take care of you, like I should have before.”

She put up a hand to stop him from approaching her. “I’m so proud of you for all that work. I really am. But—” She huffed through her nose, and when she spoke, it came out in a burst, her voice strained with irritation. “God, I’m not just looking for someone totake care of me. I’m looking for a realpartner.” She waved her hand, flustered by her own words. “Actually, forget it. That’s not true. I don’t even want that.”

“I can be your partner now.”

She shook her head, unable to articulate all the ways he clearly misunderstood that word, misunderstoodher.

“Never be a damsel in distress,” he said, as though he was reciting it. “Right? Independent women don’t need to be saved? They save themselves?”

Tansy swallowed.

Her righteousness faded as quickly as it had barged in.How many times could she receive this specific criticism before she considered whether there was some merit to it?

But what Charlie was proposing discounted everything she’d built for herself. Every way she’dmade herself.

“I get it,” he said. “You’ve been let down. By me. By your parents. But look at your life, Tansy. You’ve been barely treading water for eight years. Aren’t you tired? Or, hell, lonely?”

Her ears burned. “I’m notlonely.”

“That guyis the first one I’ve heard about the whole time we’ve been apart. If you weren’t waiting all these years for me, which—” He shrugged heavily. “I mean, obviously you weren’t…then I guess you just gave up?”

“I’ve had Briar.”

“Nice excuse.”

Tansy scoffed. He had no right. He had never been solely responsible for Briar for longer than a handful of days. He didn’t know how hard it was to carve out personal time without reliable childcare or money.

“I don’t want to talk about Jack,” Tansy muttered.

“Yeah, fine,” Charlie said. He sounded relieved for the escape from that subject. After a long moment of silence he said, “I should go.”

“What about the house?” she asked. She needed to know where they stood, whether he planned to challenge her on keeping Briar here.