Savannah let out a shaky breath. "And what if it’s not?"
Mallory sighed. "Then at least you tried." She searched her face, her own eyes glistening now. "At least you gave it a chance instead of running before you even let yourself find out."
She leaned forward, voice soft, like she was trying to hold her together before she shattered completely. "I’ve never seen you like this before, Sav. I’ve never seen you look at someone the way you look at him. I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you."
Savannah closed her eyes for a beat, her heart squeezing in her chest because she knew.
She knew.
Chase looked at her like she was it for him. Like she was the only thing that made sense in his world.
And she was about to walk away from that.
"Do you really think you’re going to go back to Asheville and pretend none of this happened?" Mallory’s voice pulled her back. "You think you’re going to go back to your old life and just be fine without him?"
Savannah turned away, blinking hard, trying to hold herself together.
Mallory exhaled, reaching out to grip her hands, forcing her to look at her. "Babe, love isn't safe. It’s messy, and terrifying, and it asks you to take risks. But it's also the best thing you'll ever have."
She squeezed her hands tighter, her voice breaking. "And you—you have a chance at it with Chase. A real one. And I don’t think you’re going to forgive yourself if you walk away."
Savannah swallowed past the lump in her throat, her entire body trembling because deep down, she knew Mallory was right.
She knew leaving was going to destroy her just as much as it was going to destroy Chase.
But she had spent so long convincing herself that love wasn’t something she could trust, that it was fleeting, conditional, breakable—
How was she supposed to suddenly believe that this time would be different?
That Chase was different?
Mallory squeezed her hands one last time, sensing the war raging inside her. "Stay, Savannah."
Her voice cracked with emotion. "Stay for him. Stay for yourself. Stay because maybe, just maybe, you’ve finally found the thing that makes this place home."
Savannah opened her mouth.
No words came.
Because she wanted to.
God, she wanted to.
But she didn’t know if she could.
38
Whispered Echoes
ThedrivetoChase’shouse was suffocating in its silence. The weight of what she was about to do sat heavy in her chest, pressing down like an iron fist, making it impossible to breathe. She couldn’t speak. Couldn’t find the words. Couldn’t think past the ache splitting her ribs apart. Mallory, to her credit, didn’t push. She didn’t tell her to turn the car around, didn’t beg her to change her mind. But Savannah could feel it, the quiet tension vibrating off her best friend, the barely concealed frustration in the way her hands gripped the steering wheel a little too tight.
Savannah stared out the window, trying to memorize every stretch of road, every flickering streetlamp, every curve and crack and dip in the pavement. She tried to take it all in, to hold it inside of her, to somehow make it enough. Because soon, it would be gone. Soon, this place—this town that had only ever been a temporary escape—would be in her past.
But none of it mattered. None of it meant anything. Not without him.
Chase.
The man who had wrecked her. The man she had fallen for in the most unexpected, beautiful, earth-shattering way. The man she was about to leave.
