Chapter 26

"I have doubts," I said softly. "Fears. I worry that I'm setting myself up for failure. I worry that this is wrong; that there's no future here. I think, though, that I'll regret it if I don't take a chance. I think you're worth that chance."

"I also think you're right," I continued, biting my bottom lip as I searched for what I wanted to say. "I think the pact was just a childish thing – I don't think it can work in the real world. Even if you could over-come the jealousy, I think there'd be so many obstacles and so many people willing to jump on something like that, who would have a vested interest in breaking something like that, that it could never work. Even if you could make it work ... I'm not the right man for that. I'm ... I couldn't ... I don't think I could do something like that. I don't think I'm wired that way. So, if that's what you're looking for..."

"No!" Jeanie interrupted; then her voice turned softer. "No. It was a childish fantasy. What I mean is ... what about me