I don’t answer. I let the weight of it hang in the room.
And then I see it hit him.
“No. Della?”
I nod once.
“She walked into my club. Into that booth. Wearing that insane red dress. She ...” My jaw tightens so hard my temples throb. I don’t finish the sentence. I don’t have to.
David sinks into the leather couch with a long exhale.
“All this time. And she shows up now? Out of nowhere?”
“Out of a fucking cab. Just like that. No notice. No warning. Nothing.”
The anger sizzles out of me almost as fast as it came.
“But I wasn’t ready. Not to see her like that. Not… with someone else.”
“You still love her,” David says, voice low.
I turn to him.
“Even when I hated her for vanishing. Even when I tried to forget—”
The room falls quiet. Thick with the ghosts of everything I never said.
David leans forward, elbows on his knees.
“Then remind me—why did you let her go?”
I exhale hard.
“You remember what it was like back then. We lost the retail contract; I was drowning in debt. I thought… I thought I’d fix it. Get everything stable. Then go back for her and bring her back here. To the life we dreamt of.”
“So why the hell didn’t you tell her that?”
“Because she was gone. For over a month, I tried everything. Called every day—nothing. I didn’t have any contacts in her hometown. No family, no friends I could reach out to.” My voice drops. “She… disappeared.”
David narrows his eyes.
“Did you try again? Later?”
I shake my head, guilt heavy in my gut.
“I couldn’t. Not after the deal I made.”
David stiffens.
“What deal?”
I stare down at the glass, as if it might shield me from the truth.
“I thought she left me, Dave. I really did. One day, Leah walked into my office like the fucking devil herself, offering help.”
My jaw clenches, and pain flickers behind my ribs like an old wound reopening.
I exhale slowly, the truth weighing heavier than it ever has.
