Inside, the bouquet sits on the counter.Nate was right about one thing, they do look ridiculously expensive.I open the card, and Liam’s tidy handwriting stares up at me:
Please answer my calls.
I have exciting news you need to hear.
And just so you know, I don’t regret the kiss.
Liam x
Heat flares through me—anger, frustration, guilt, all tangled.
I text him quickly:
Nora
Thank you for the flowers, but you shouldn’t have.Sorry for not calling, things are a little crazy right now.What’s the big news?
I hit send before I can overthink it then stand there for a long moment until my phone buzzes.
Liam
The flowers were a congratulations because she read it and she loved it.Like I told you she would!
Liam
She wants to set up a meeting when you’re back to chat about potentially publishing your manuscript.
Liam
When are you back by the way?Missing you at the office.Morning coffee’s aren’t the same x
My first instinct is to retreat and give Nate space, give myself space, let the dust settle so neither of us shatters.
But that’s the old pattern, the old fear.
So I breathe and I think of Alfie and the conversation I just had with him.Of how fear masquerades as protection, and how joy—quiet, steady joy—asks more of you than running ever does.
Nate is out on the dock, shoulders curled in on themselves, fighting a storm he thinks he has to weather alone.And maybe in the past, I would’ve let him.I would’ve convinced myself that distance equaled safety.
But I’m done shrinking.
I’m done choosing silence over truth.
Despite the argument, despite the fear and the tangled uncertainty, he’s still the person my heart moves toward—not away from.
So I take a step, then another.
Toward the wind.
Toward the water.
Toward the boy I love—carrying my fear with me instead of letting it decide for me.
CHAPTER18
MOIRA SULLIVAN
NATE
