“I need to talk to you, Brian,” Lily said a week later. Things were still not any better between them and as much as it hurt her to do so, she decided to quit her job. Brian led her into his hotel room and she sat on his bed. Brian stood leaning against the dresser that faced the bed. Lily was silent for a minute, trying to gather her thoughts. “I can’t work for you anymore,” she said quietly, looking at the floor.
“What?” Brian asked, thinking he misunderstood her. She looked up at him and repeated herself, trying not to become emotional. A hurt look swept across Brian’s face. “But…why not?”
“It’s too hard. I can’t be around you anymore…I can’t stand the fighting,” she said, her voice quivering.
“But I need you,” he said.
“You’ll find another nanny.”
“No, Lily. I need you.”
“You don’t need me, Brian. All we do is fight…it’s not good for Caitlin,” Lily said.
“I know we fight, and I hate it,” he said.
“Then why won’t you just talk to me instead of yelling all the time?” she demanded.
“Because I don’t know what to say!” Brian said, raising his voice. “I’ve been trying to deal with all this stuff and I just don’t know what to do.”
“Maybe I could help you if you weren’t so stubborn.”
“I need to do this on my own.”
“There you go again…pushing me away when all I want to do is help you. I don’t deserve to be treated like this, Brian. But I put up with it anyway. I put up with it because I love you, dammit!” she yelled, tears filling her eyes.
Brian stood speechless, looking at Lily. He wanted to take her in his arms and tell her that he loved her, too, but his body wouldn’t move. He felt his heart break as Lily walked out of his room without looking back. Once again he was losing the woman he loved.
“Vicky!” Brian called as he saw Vicky walking down the hall. She stopped and turned around.
“What?” she asked coolly.
“I need your help.”
“Why should I help you after the way you treated my sister?”
“Because I love her, Vicky. I can’t let her leave,” he said.
Vicky sighed. “Fine…But if you hurt her again, I’m gonna hafta kick your ass.”
“Get up, Lily. C’mon…You’re coming with me,” Vicky said, pulling the covers off her sister.
“No…don’t wanna…” Lily said.
“I don’t care…Get up now!”
“Fine…” Lily said, climbing out of bed. “Where are we going?”
“I can’t tell you, but you should probably get cleaned up a lil bit. You’re looking kinda ratty.”
A half-hour later when Lily was ready to go, Vicky took her to a park that was a block away from the hotel. Vicky sat her down on a bench and told her to wait there. Lily watched Vicky walk away and wondered what she was waiting for. She looked out at the sunset and was lost in thought until someone called her name. She looked up and saw Brian standing in front of her. She started to stand up, but he stopped her.
“Please stay…I need to tell you something,” Brian said. She sat back down and looked up at him. What he did next surprised her. He got down on his knees and started to sing to her.
Brian looked up at her and saw she had tears in her eyes. “Lily, please forgive me. I know I acted horrible, but I was scared.”
“Scared of what?” she asked.
“Of getting too close to you and then losing you. And because I was scared, I pushed you away. I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry…for everything. I love you, Lily, and I don’t want you to go. Please say you’ll stay with me.”
Lily nodded. “I’ll stay.”
Brian grinned widely and stood up, pulling Lily up with him. His arms encircled her waist and he held her close. “I love you,” he said before kissing her softly.
“I love you, too.”
