Too Late to Love Me novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: No

I found him at four o'clock on the pier I had painted.

There is only one pier I have ever painted.

I had stared at it for six weeks before anyone laughed at me.

It stood at the end of a wharf behind a shuttered fish market.

The gray water slapped under the boards.

Mist lay on the harbor so thick the buoys were red smudges.

Zane sat at the end with his knees drawn up and his duffel bag beside him.

He had slept in his coat, and the beard had gone ragged.

I walked the whole length of the boards before he turned his head.

"You read the note," he said.

"I did."

"I'm not going to say it was a good one."

"It was a terrible note," I said.

"You wrote me a speech about what I need."

"You don't get to decide that and leave before I answer."

"June..."

"No."

He stopped.

"That's my answer to the note," I said.

"It's the only one it gets."

"I'm not saying yes to you."

"I want that to be clear, so you don't spend the night building something out of it."

"I'm saying no to you disappearing on me."

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