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My eyes dropped.

“But you didn’t. You told me the part that makes you look bad.”

My chest hurt.

“You told me you knew. You told me you ignored signs. You told me you were wrong. And you told me knowing damn well my previous marriage went through similar circumstances.”

“Because you deserved to know.”

“Exactly. You gave me the choice.”

There was something about what he said that stuck out to me. Maybe because I’d spent so many years living inside relationships where choice had been stolen from somebody. Ravenna didn’t get one. Caleb didn’t tell her enough to choose whether she wanted to stay married to the man he actually was. I didn’t get the truth either. I got carefully selected information designed to keep me exactly where he wanted me.

I had handed Nash the ugliest part of my history knowing he could use it to walk right out of my life.

My voice shook. “And what are you choosing?”

Nash didn’t answer immediately. He leaned back and looked at me.

I frowned. “What?”

“I’m still sitting here, ain’t I?”

I stared at him. “Nash.”

“What?”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It is.”

“No, it’s not.”

He laughed. “You want a speech?”

“I want clarity.”

He squeezed my hand. “Blair. I like you.”

My eyes burned again.

“I liked you before you walked in here.” He shrugged. “I still like you. I’m not saying hearing this shit didn’t fuck with me a little because it did.”

I nodded. “I know.”

“And there may be things I think about later. Questions I haven’t thought to ask yet.”

“Okay.”

“But I’m not going to punish you for what my ex-wife did to me, and I’m not going to punish you for what you did either.”

I cried quietly.

Nash wiped underneath my eye. “That doesn’t mean I think it was okay.”

“I know.”

“It means I believe people can fuck up.”