Page 57 of Risk It All

I frown. Her statement makes sense, even if it could still result in rejection.

“You could probably talk her into it, Max,” Springer agrees, changing his tune. “I've never known you not to talk your way into what you wanted.”

“I don't want to talk her into it. I want her to want it too.”

“Of course, you do,” Marjorie says. “Max, maybe the problem is that in your life, you've been able to get what you want on your own, but now you have to rely on someone else to get what you want. Since so far it hasn't gone your way, maybe you're trying to protect your heart too.”

“You shoulda been a shrink,” Springer says to his wife.

“As a social worker, I sorta am.”

“Oh, right.”

She turns back to me. “You need to go to her and tell her how you feel and what you're willing to do to be with her.”

I recall that I’d once told her I’d do anything so she knew what I was willing to do. “What if she says no?”

“If you don't talk to her, you'll spend your life wondering if maybe you should have. If she says no at least you'll know you did everything you could.”

Marjorie is right. But the prospect of laying my heart at Madeleine's feet terrifies me. I'm barely surviving now. Another no, a final no, will be devastating.

Still, I owe it to myself and even to Madeleine to make one last attempt.