“What do you mean, no?”
“I don’t want you to marry me because you’re scared.”
“I’m not scared.”
“Yes, you are.”
I looked down at the papers.
“Yesterday, marriage was meaningless. Today, after seeing these documents, suddenly you’re ready?”
He had no answer.
I continued quietly.
“I wanted you to choose me when you felt safe. When you thought I would stay anyway. That would have meant something.”
His eyes dropped.
“This doesn’t?”
“No.”
The room went silent.
Then David asked the question I think he had been afraid to ask since he walked into the kitchen.
“Are you leaving me?”
I looked at the man I had loved for ten years.
And I told him the truth.
“I don’t know yet.”
His face went pale.
That was the moment he finally understood.
Not when I asked for marriage.
Not when we argued at the restaurant.