He hummed, nodding against me. “Yeah. I will.”
I believed him.
He kissed me again before slipping out of bed, padding off toward the bathroom. I watched him go. The way he moved more surely now, like the ground beneath him had stopped shifting quite so much.
I didn’t notice when he grabbed his phone. I was too busy realizing something terrifying and necessary at the same time:
I couldn’t love him halfway. And I couldn’t be the man he deserved without help.
The sound of a car horn cut through the quiet like a crack of thunder. I froze. Another short honk followed.
Elliot appeared at the top of the stairs, expression soft but resolved. “That’ll be Mia,” he said gently.
My heart dropped into my stomach. “Mia?”
He came down slowly, stopping in front of me. Reached up, cupped my face. “I told you I’d call Nora,” he said. “And I will.” A small, knowing smile. “But I also said I needed somewhere to land while I figure things out.”
I searched his face. “You don’t have to go.”
“I know,” he said softly. “That’s why I can.”
The words undid me. We stood there in the doorway, the morning suddenly too bright, too real. I pressed my forehead to his, breathing him in like I was afraid the world might steal him the second he stepped outside.
“I love you,” he said, without hesitation.
“I love you too,” I replied, my voice breaking despite my best efforts.
He smiled—heartbreaking and brave all at once. “And I think… I think I’m not the only one who needs help sorting through things.”
A laugh slipped out of me before I could stop it. It sounded wrong. Thin. “Thomas said the same.”
His smile softened.
That’s when it hit—all at once. The weight of wanting to be better. The terror of not knowing if I could. The certainty that loving him meant I had to try anyway.
Tears burned hot and sudden, streaking down my face as I pulled him into my chest. “I want to be the best version of myselffor you,” I said hoarsely. “And I don’t think I can get there without healing some things first. I need to believe I’m good enough to stand beside you.”
Elliot’s grip tightened. He cried quietly, shoulders shaking, but he nodded. “I know,” he whispered. “And I’ll be here when you do.”
We kissed then. Moved like it was gravity—slow, aching—mouths moving together like a promise rather than a goodbye. It tasted like fear and hope tangled together, neither winning, neither letting go.
When he finally stepped back, he wiped my tears with his thumbs and kissed my forehead one last time.
Mia’s car idled at the bottom of the drive. The weight of her gaze settled on me and I swore I saw her nod at me. In acknowledgement of what I was doing or acceptance? I didn’t know.
I watched him walk away—not breaking this time, not falling apart—just carrying our love forward like something fragile and worth protecting.
And for the first time, letting go didn’t feel like abandonment. It felt like choosing the future we hadn’t given up on yet.
CHAPTER 25
ELLIOT
The rain started just as we pulled away.
Not a storm. Not yet. Just a steady, insistent drizzle that darkened the road and softened the edges of everything beyond the windshield. Beacon Ridge disappeared behind us in gray streaks, Anthony’s driveway swallowed by distance and wet asphalt.
I watched it vanish like I’d watched so many things vanish in my life—quietly, without ceremony. Mia didn’t turn the radio on. She never did when something mattered.
