I stand up and turn to leave. But before I step out, I glance back at him. He’s already back to his paperwork, as though I’m just another task he’s checked off his list.
Another thing that must be handled.
And me? I’m still stuck, caught between who I am, what I want, and who they want me to be, trying to figure out where I even belong anymore.
I step out of my father’s office, my head buzzing. I don’t even know where I’m going, just moving for the sake of it, trying to outrun the tightness in my chest. This town, my family, the endless parade of expectations, it all swirls around in my mind until I’m drowning in it.
My phone buzzes again, breaking through the fog. I pull it out of my pocket without thinking, expecting another text from my father. Instead, it’s from her.
Lo.
My stomach does a somersault as I read her message:
Lo: Hey, how are you? Do you want to meet up for another coffee?
That’s all it says.
All these years, she’s had my number. All these years, I never once changed it, hoping and praying that she’d use it.
It feels like a slap in the face now.
She’s back in town, and it’s a damn magnet, pulling me right back into the gravity of everything I’ve tried to avoid.
Everything that could tarnish the family name.
I close my eyes for a second, my grip tightening around the phone. Trust. She needs someone to trust.
But that’s the problem, isn’t it? She never stays long enough to make anything stick.
She’s always the storm that comes in, sweeps you up, and leaves before you have a chance to breathe.
I read it again. I should be excited, right? Lo wants to talk to me. She wants to spend time with me. In my presence.
My thumb hovers over the keyboard, ready to message back.
But the reality settles in fast.
I can’t do this.
Not with everything on the line. Not when I’m already teetering on the edge of a scandal that’ll blow back on me, on my family.
Lo doesn’t care about that. She’s reckless, unpredictable, and goddamn it, she’s always been the one thing I’ve never been able to shake.
But my father’s words echo in my head in a constant drum beat:No more distractions. No more complications.
If I don’t handle this right, if I let myself get caught up in Lo’s mess, it could bring everything crashing down once she leaves again. Because if there’s one thing I know about Lo, it’s that she never stays.
The business. The connections. My whole life. All of it could be gone within seconds.
I can’t afford to be the guy who throws it all away for someone who doesn’t even stick around.
With a heavy sigh, I decide to put the phone down. I stare at it for a moment, my heart hammering in my chest. I can’t—no, I won’t let her pull me in like this again.
But even as the thoughts spill forward, I know the truth:I’m going to ignore her.
I press my thumb over the message and let my finger hover over the screen, my pulse racing. I should tell her I’m busy. Tell her I’ll be around. Give her something.
It doesn’t even have to be definitive. Just an open-ended message.
