Page 128 of Stay With Me

“Are you still there?” Jenna asked. “Are you about to cry?”

Samantha sniffled. “No,” she squeaked.

“Don’t cry.I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lecture you, but I really think you need to cut him some slack.”

Samantha shook her head and wiped her tears. “It’s not that.”

“What’s wrong then?”

Samantha let her shoulders sag. “He said … he said…” Then she couldn’t stifle the tiny sobs and hiccups.

“What did he say?” Jenna asked gently.

Samantha dropped her head into her hand. “He said helovesme.”

“Ohhhh, Samantha,” Jenna crooned. “See? That’s why he waited to tell you. I’m sure he was just afraid you’d be furious and never want to speak to him again.”

“People don’t fall in love after only a matter of months,Jenna,” Samantha sputtered. “At least not in a meaningful way. You want to talk about what is real life and what is the stuff of romance novels? Really loving someone takes time.”

Jenna scoffed. “That is not true. There is no set time frame for how someone’s feelings for someone else develop. And I think it’s totally believable for him to feel that way after the way everything that happened between you guys. This whole thing can’t have been easy for him. Like him being trapped in bed for weeks and basically having to learn to walk all over again. And you were there for all of it. And a few months is actually a significant amount of time, believe it or not. If hedidn’tlove you at this point, I’d be skeptical about him.”

“But I don’t think he’s thinking clearly about everything,” Samantha insisted. “He’s still totally stuck on that dream he had. I think he’s confusing it with reality.”

“Well, does that really matter?”

“Yeah, Jenna! I think it matters. Feelings should be based on real life, not on crazy dreams.”

“I think the dream made him start seeing you that way, but everything else finished the job.”

Samantha growled quietly in exasperation.

“Samantha, just call him.”

“No.”

“You’re stubborn,” Jenna retorted. “And I think you’re making a mistake by not talking to him after all of that.”

“I talked to him yesterday.He called me.”

“And what did he say? He probably apologized again,right?”

Samantha huffed. “Yeah. Oh and then,he offered me a job.” She had to laugh. It was a truly ridiculous idea.

“He did?”

“Yeah,” Samantha replied. “He said it was the least he could do after costing me my previous one.”

“As a waitress?”

“No.” She paused to laugh again. “He wants me to come be his office manager and HR person. Because apparently he doesn’t have any of that.”

“Um, and aren’t you looking for a job?”

“Ha! I’m not working for him.”

“Why not?”

“Why would I?”