Because he could already feel the shape of the loss coming. Could already hear the empty Saturdays. Could already see Ava's face when he had to tell her. But he said it anyway because it was right. "It's your dream."
"You earned it. You said no to it once already to protect yourself, and you shouldn't have to say no to it again to protect me. That's not love. That's just a different kind of cage." He swallowed hard.
"So take it. Go to Chicago. Run the division. Be the thing you were always supposed to be, and I'll—" His voice caught. "And I'll be happy for you," he finished.
"For real. Not the fake kind, the real kind." Emily was crying now, silently, tears running down her face. "You'd let me go," she said. "Just like that."
"I wouldn't want to," Marcus said, and his own voice was thick. "Now understand me. I wouldn't want to. There's a part of me screaming right now. But wanting you to stay and asking you to stay are two different things, Emily."
"Daniel couldn't tell the difference. I can." He shook his head. "I lost one woman I loved because life took her and there was nothing I could do about it. I'm not going to lose the next one by being the reason her life got small."
"I'd rather miss you than cage you. That's—that's the whole thing. That's all I've got." For a moment, Emily just stared at him. And then she did something Marcus didn't expect.
She started to laugh through the tears. A broken, disbelieving, watery laugh. "You idiot," she said. "What?" "You beautiful idiot."
She wiped her face with the back of her hand. "Do you have any idea what you just did? You just did the exact opposite of what Daniel did. He wanted me to give up my dream so he could keep me. And you?"
"You're willing to give me up so I can keep my dream." She laughed again, helpless. "Which means you're the first man in my entire life who ever loved me more than he loved having me. And you did it while telling me to leave." Marcus opened his mouth.