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Her mind filtered through the past two weeks. All the times she’d noticed something off. Something different.
The honesty in his smile, the vulnerability in his quiet confessions.
They hadn’t matched who she’d known him to be. Which meant everything he was saying to her now was the truth—she’d been in love with someone else.
Someone who didn’t exist. He had been half a person.
It should have hurt but all she felt was relief. Like a weight had been lifted off her.
“What is it that you want now?” she asked.
His lips tilted up on the ends. “I just want to be in your life. In whatever capacity you’ll have me.”
“Like friends?” she asked.
He nodded.
Friends.
Friends?
She wiped at the tears that kept creeping from her eyes without her permission. Tears of hopeless understanding. So much of what he’d said made the worst kind of sense.
“I don’t…” How was she supposed to say this without sounding horrible? “I don’t even know you.” It came out just as helpless as it felt.
He nodded and his eyes turned down.
“I want you to know me.”
She sniffed a laugh. “You do?”
He came back to stand in front of her, his face earnest.
“Yes.”
His answer was so firm and so simple. No excuse or over explanation. No pleading, no begging. Just “yes.”
She swallowed and waved a hand between them. “I don’t know how this is supposed to work. I don’t know how to be friends with you. I think I’m still really mad at you.”
He nodded like he understood. “You can keep yelling at me,” he said, surprising her. “I deserve worse.”
An unexpected laugh fell out of her. “I wasn’t yelling.”
“You were kind of yelling.” He cracked a smile. “And if it helps, I’m fine with it.”
“I don’t want to yell at you.” She ran her fingers under her eyes to check for more tears. She shrugged, feeling a little lost with the next steps.
“I believe you,” she said. “But I’m not sure I trust you.” Which was the strangest feeling because so much of herwantedto trust him
He nodded and took a slow breath. “That’s more than fair.”
Why couldn’t they have had these kinds of conversations way back when? Maybe if they’d been communicating honestly, he would never have felt the need to flee, and the relationship would have taken its logical course and ended on its own. That’s how most of her relationships ended.
“Do you think that if we’d have had hard talks like this, we’d have stayed friends?” she asked.
“I do.” He rocked back on his heels. “You never did anything wrong. As far as I’m concerned you were absolutely perfect and still are.”
She snorted.
