ir between us, thick with r

ight harder. I'd tell you eve

that now, not after all the years of silence. Not aft

g distance before I did something r

te the past, Lucas," I

ut I'm not asking for the past, Claire. I'

t's not how this works. You don't get to show u

quiet. Steady. "But I need you to know that le

ainst the lump

were planning a future, and the next, you were gone. No explanation. No wa

fly, his jaw tightening. "

didn't you

I thought staying away was t

started falling. "Safe from what, Lucas? Your father's threats?

he followed through? If he ruined you

he raw desperat

I did the only thing I thought I could. I left.

tween us, heavy with

uth in his eyes-the pain, the gu

shatt

ted him for leaving, a part of

nd myself as if that could hold me t

sitant step clo

this to me, Lucas. You don't get to co

ightened.

ce cracked, and I hated how vulnerable I sounded. "Yo

other step-closer this time, close

ready to name. "Because losing you once nearly destroyed me. And I swear, Claire, if you gave me e

my heart hammeri

to beli

I wan

coul

ck in, knowing what he wa

eath uneven. "I don't kno

st barely, but enough to send a jol

e said. "As lo

ified me more

how hard I tried to fight it-Lucas was the

slept t

and over again, tangled with the memo

As long as

ow how to p

verything, a part of me still wa

clear my head before I did somethin

sundress and slipping out before anyone else in the

ut endlessly before me, waves crashing against the shore in a soothi

do thi

ing myself of that when I

I'd find

nd of Lucas's voice, b

ded so

presence as overwhelming

augh. "Says the guy who

aled. "Fa

between us, the oc

ou really here, Lucas? And don't tel

hands into his pockets. "B

hard. "And

don't know. I just... I co

is voice made

waves. "You think we can jus

diate. Honest. "But I do

, searching his face

ened. "Then I

breath, caug

ed you to know that I never stopped caring. And if there's even th

art p

id still feel something. B

king my head. "I don't know i

xpression unread

d say anything else, he

ng him go, the ache i

a part of me al