I stared at her as she looked at me with hopeful eyes.
"Please say something, Tom. I know this is difficult, but I think this is the only way forward. I need you to allow me to do this or I'm going to live with regret for the rest of my life."
"That's inevitable, Sandy. No matter what happens, we're both going to leave this table with a mountain of regret."
"Oh no, sweetheart, I'll make sure you never regret giving me this. In fact, you'll probably look at this moment as one of the highlights of our marriage. It will change things for us but only in the best way."
"The choice isn't mine. You're trying to put the choice on me so that you don't have to be the bad guy. If I say "yes" then I'm responsible for destroying our marriage, and if I say "no" then I'm responsible for destroying your happiness. You've put me in a no-win situation."
"But it wouldn't destroy our marriage! Our marriage is indestructible, you've shown me that..."
"You're delusional!" I interrupted her. "No marriage is indestructible if both people aren't pursuing the same thing. You're not looking out for us; you're looking out for you. You're destroying my dreams for us. Right now I can't look at you as my friend and partner. Now we're in competition to see who is going to get what they want."
"But we both want to be happy! Can't you see how happy this would make me? How loved? All that love would just come back to you and then you would be as happy as I am!"