“Go inside,” I tell Alexander softly.“I’ll be right there.”
His eyes flick to Chase, then back to me.“If he...”
“I’ll be fine.Promise.”I squeeze his hand.“Go.Your mom’s probably already wondering where we are.”
He doesn’t look happy about it, but he nods.Before he gets out, he leans over and presses another kiss to my temple, slow and deliberate, his hand sliding to the back of my neck.When he pulls away, his eyes hold mine for a long moment.
“Shout if you need me.”
“I won’t need to.”
He climbs out, and I watch him walk toward the house, his shoulders straight, his movements controlled.At the door, he pauses and glances back at me.I give him a small wave, and then he disappears inside.
The door closes behind him, and I’m alone with the ghost on the sidewalk.
I take a breath, then another, and get out of the car.The cold hits me immediately, sharp and biting, and I shiver.
Chase straightens when he sees me, taking a hesitant step forward.
“Olivia.”
“Chase.”I don’t move closer.The distance between us, maybe ten feet, feels exactly right.“What are you doing here?”
He shifts his weight again, and for the first time, I notice how rough he looks.Dark circles under his eyes.His hair uncombed.The flannel shirt he’s wearing is wrinkled, like he pulled it straight from the laundry basket.
“Can we talk?”His voice is quieter than I’ve ever heard it.“Please?”
I glance at the house.Through the window, I can see Alexander standing in the living room talking to his dad.His mom appears beside them, gesturing animatedly about something.The scene looks so warm, so right, and I want to be in there with them.
But Chase is looking at me with something close to desperation, and despite everything, we were friends once.A lifetime ago.
“Sure,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest.“But we’ll talk here.In front of the house.”
His face falls, but he nods.“Okay.Yeah.That’s...okay.”
He takes another step forward, close enough now I can see the way his hands are shaking in his pockets.The Christmas lights reflect in his eyes, red and green and gold, and he looks lost.
“I broke up with Amber,” he says abruptly.The words hang in the cold air between us.I should be surprised.Maybe even a little vindicated.But all I feel is a distant sense of inevitability, like watching a movie where you already know the ending.
“Okay,” I say evenly.
“That’s it?Just ‘okay’?”His laugh is bitter, self-deprecating.“I thought...I don’t know what I thought.”
“What do you want me to say, Chase?”
He runs a hand through his hair, making it stand up at odd angles.“I made a mistake, Liv.A huge one.I never should have...”His voice cracks.“I never should have cheated.Never should have let you go.”
The old nickname hits differently now.It used to make me feel cherished, like I was his and he was mine.Now it just sounds wrong, like he’s reaching for something that doesn’t exist anymore.
“You’re right,” I say quietly.“You shouldn’t have cheated.”
His eyes snap to mine, hopeful.
“I spent ten years with you, Chase.”My voice is steady now, matter-of-fact.“Ten years.If you wanted to move on, if you were unhappy, you should have given me the courtesy of ending things properly.”
“I know...”
“I’m not finished.”The words come out sharper than I intend, but I don’t soften them.“We were childhood friends.Best friends before we were anything else.I would have preferred to keep you in my life as a friend, even after we ended.I would have preferred to remember our time together without it being tainted by betrayal.”
