“No,” I said, surprised by how automatically the answer came. “I’m not afraid of that with her.”
“Why not?”
“Because she doesn’t pull away when life gets complicated,” I said. “And she doesn’t make me choose.”
His expression shifted, understanding mixing with something tender. “You trust her.”
I breathed out slowly. “Yeah. I do.”
“And you really think she’ll still be there when you go back?”
I didn’t even have to think about it.
“Yes.”
He nodded, leaning back in his chair with a shaky sigh. “Then you already know something I didn’t.”
“What’s that?”
“That she’s the real deal,” he said simply.
His voice held something like awe.
And for the first time all day, something inside me settled.
Not because things were perfect. Not because the road ahead was clear. Not because I had the answers.
But because I wasn’t losing myself this time.
Not like before.
Not at the cost of love.
I could be here for my brother.
I could go back to Sienna.
I could chooseboth.
As the hours slipped toward midnight and the house fell into exhausted quiet, Evan finally stood.
“Go sleep,” he said. “Long day. Long tomorrow.”
“You too.”
He hesitated again in the hallway. “Carson?”
“Yeah?”
“You deserve to go back to her. Don’t let me be the reason you hesitate.”
I shook my head. “I’m not hesitating. I’m just… taking a detour.”
He let out a long breath. “Good.”
And then he disappeared into his room, leaving me alone at the kitchen table with the hum of the refrigerator and the distant sound of the wind outside.
I pulled out my phone.
