Callum stops just inside the doorway.
For a long moment, he says nothing.He watches her breathe, the slow rise and fall of her shoulders, the stillness that feels anything but calm.
“You always run when you’re overwhelmed,” he says quietly.
Isla doesn’t turn around.“And you always stand still and call it patience.”
The words land clean and sharp.
Callum steps into the room, careful not to crowd her.“I didn’t want to chase you.”
Her laugh is humorless.“I didn’t want to be chased.”
They sit with that truth for a beat, two instincts colliding without canceling each other out.
Callum shifts closer, stopping a few feet away.“I didn’t want to make you feel trapped.”
She turns then, slow and deliberate, arms crossing over her chest like she’s holding herself together.
“I can’t do this,” Isla says.
The finality in her voice makes his chest tighten.“Do what?”
“This,” she snaps, gesturing between them.“This pattern.”
“We don’t have a pattern,” Callum replies, though even as he says it, doubt flickers.
“Yes, we do,” Isla says.“I let myself feel something good, and then it’s immediately reframed into something I have to justify or forgive.”
Callum takes a breath.“You can feel good things without punishment.”
She tilts her head, studying him.“Can I?”
She stands abruptly and begins to pace, one step, then another, like motion is the only thing keeping her upright.
“Last night,” Isla says, voice tight, “I let myself be open.I let myself want someone without bracing for loss.”
Callum’s throat tightens.He felt it too, the choice, the trust, the way she let herself be held without armor.
“And today,” she continues, “we open a letter, and it’s the same story again.Men leaving.Women controlling.Love turned into a justification.”
“I’m not asking you to forgive him,” Callum says.
“You keep defending him,” she fires back.
“I keep insisting he was human,” Callum replies.“And afraid.He made mistakes.We all make mistakes.”
“And I keep insisting that fear doesn’t excuse disappearing,” Isla snaps.“Do you hear me?He disappeared.”
Callum exhales slowly.“He thought he was protecting you.”
“That’s what I keep hearing,” she says bitterly.“Because it’s convenient.”
The word hangs heavy between them.
“It turns his absence into something noble,” Isla continues.“Instead of a choice he made.”
Callum opens his mouth to argue and then closes it again.
