Then another, to Maddox:
Full audit. MH Construction. Anything tied to Leah—get me out. Keep it quiet. And—get the papers ready for the lake house, as discussed.
This isn’t business anymore. This is correction. This is the beginning of what I should’ve done years ago—untangle myself from every damn string she wrapped around me.
It won’t fix anything. Won’t turn back time. Won’t bring back what I lost with Della. Whatwelost.
But it’s a start.
I drift toward the window, staring out at the trees and the faint shimmer of the lake under moonlight. I don’t see any of it.
All I see is her—not Della from tonight, stiff with pain, hiding something she couldn’t bring herself to say—buther, from years ago at Lake Geneva.
She was curled up in the armchair of that little inn room, wearing my t-shirt—way too big for her, hair damp from the rain, her bare legs tucked under her.
She wasn’t reading, not really—just holding the book, watching the lake. She looked up when I walked in with the tea, smiled that sideways smile that made my heart tremble.
She took the cup, rested her head on my shoulder like it was made for her, and I remember whispering into her ear, inhaling the jasmine scent of her skin:
"How can I feel this much and not explode?"
She’d laughed into my chest.
“You don’t explode,” she said in a warm whisper tracing her hands over my chest. “You melt.”
And I did.
Back then, I melted for her without fear. Completely.
Now, I’ve hardened into someone else. Someone who let doubt win. Someone who let her go.
I can still see her tonight, shaking, trying to stay upright under the weight of whatever she’s hiding.Seven weeks in a hospital.
The thought guts me.
I glance at the stairs.
She’s up there now. Alone again. And I don’t know if she’s crying, or staring at the ceiling, or replaying every broken piece of our story in her head—but I know better than to follow her now.
She doesn’t need more words tonight. She needs space.
Buttomorrow?
Tomorrow I’ll bring my truth. My regret. All of it.
Even if it’s too late to repair what we had, I’ll burn down every lie I helped build between us—starting with Leah.
Even if she never forgives me.
Because the woman upstairs—
The one I still love more than anything—
Was alone when she shouldn’t have been.
And I will never let that happen again.
* * *
