Page 135 of When a Soul Cries

“Don’t.”

I frowned.

“She had to leave Crestmont unexpectedly because of a family situation. She didn’t know any of this was happening.”

“She still doesn’t?”

Sol’s silence answered me.

“You didn’t tell her?”

“She has enough going on.”

“Sol.”

“I said I’m fine.”

I stared at her.

She realized what she’d said.

Her face folded.

“No,” she whispered. “I’m not.”

And that was it.

The wall finally broke.

Her shoulders started shaking.

“I don’t have anything, Rome.”

I moved before I could think better of it, then stopped halfway across the space between us.

Sol looked at me through tears.

“Can I?”

I opened my arms slightly.

For one second, she just stared.

Then she came to me.

Sol folded against my chest so hard it knocked the air out of me.

Her fingers gripped the front of my shirt.

And she cried.

Not pretty tears.

Not quiet ones.

Her entire body shook.

“I tried,” she sobbed against me. “I swear to God, I tried.”