“Baby you‘re not wrong. It‘s my fault…”
Gladys didn‘t stop talking. “Edward, loving someone means being exposed to them, trusting them with your emotions.” She paused and considered his faltered words. “It‘s not about blame games. Can you be sincere and give me an answer from your heart? Can you do that?” That was crux of the matter, Edward wasn‘t sure if he could do that. He‘d thought about marriage to Gladys; they got on very well and after the dream on the beach, it was like - why not? But he hadn‘t considered love. He still didn‘t know if he was ready to trust his heart to someone else. He cared deeply about Gladys but he didn‘t want to label it. He came to stand before her. “Let‘s not make this such a big deal. OK I admit I may have brought up the topic the wrong way but I mean it. Maybe you need to go away and think about it?”
Gladys stood up and picked up her bag. It was very plain that Edward did not love her. If he couldn‘t say it, marriage was out of the question. She would be deceiving herself to think seriously about his proposal, if one could even call it that. “I love you Edward, but it is now obvious that you don‘t feel the same way. Why didn‘t you just tell me while you were away? Or did you want to sleep with me first and that is what this is all about?”
Edward was taken aback by the way it seemed she had taken his words. He had assumed that she would accept his suggestion to go away and think about his proposal. How wrong he was. His thought processes ground to a stop and he couldn‘t think of what to say next.
“Tell me, did you mean any of the things you‘ve been saying to me in the past weeks? Or were they to break down my defenses?”
When he didn‘t say anything, she threw up her hands. “You know what, I give up. I am too tired to think anymore. Could you please ask Bonny to take me home?”
He certainly agreed that they were at a stalemate and the best thing was to stop digging. How could she doubt him like that? “Can I call you later?”