Page 79 of What I Like About You

“I’m not the one saying that, you are! Find me a compromise here, Zara, and I’m willing to do what I need to do to make it work. But you only have one answer. So who’s the one being selfish now?”

“That’s still you, Tripp,” she said, wiping at her tears. “Because despite the fact that you keep bringing it up, you don’t have a compromise either.”

“What do you want from me, Zara?”

“Same thing I did then!” she shouted, stomping her foot. “For you to fight for me, for us! To be the man your mother wanted you to be!”

“Leave her out of this.”

“No. You weren’t the only one hurt by her death, Tripp. She was like a second mom to me, and I miss her too! Flick misses her. And despite what you think, I’m sure that your dad does as well. And regardless of everything that has happened, I know she would not have wanted you to run away and play Peter Pan.”

“You seem to have no complaints about following the second star to the right, Wendy,” he snarked. “Neverland’s been pretty good to you.”

“Fuck you.”

“You already did that,” he spat back. “I hope you enjoyed the ride.”

With those last words, Dalton pushed past Zara and out the door. By the time the door slammed shut, he was already making his way down the stairs, fighting off tears of his own. How the fuck did they get into this mess? Just this morning he’d woken up to perfection, with Zara in his arms.

And now…now it was all for naught.