But nothing had prepared him for the reality of watching her cry.
“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Millie’s voice broke, thick with emotion. “Why didn’t you tell me the truth?”
“Because you would’ve tried to change my mind. And I couldn’t let you do that. I was already struggling with the decision. If I’d told you, if I’d given you the chance to fight for us, I wouldn’t have been strong enough to walk away.”
She shook her head, more tears falling. “You should’ve let me make that choice. You should’ve let me decide if I could handle it.”
“I know.” His voice was hoarse. “I know that now. But I was twenty-five and thought I was being noble. I thought I was protecting you from the worst-case scenario.”
Millie wiped at her cheeks, her breath shaky. “Do you know what it was like when you were gone? Waking up one day and realizing the person you thought you’d spend your life with had just . . . broken up with you and disappeared?”
“I’m sorry.” The words felt inadequate, but they were all he had. “I’m so sorry, Millie.”
She looked away, staring into the fire. “I spent months thinking I’d done something wrong. That I wasn’t enough. That if I’d been different, maybe you would’ve stayed.”
His chest ached. “You were always enough. More than enough.”
“Then why did it feel like I wasn’t?”
chapter
thirty-seven
Caleb and Milliesat in silence a moment, the fire crackling between them.
He waited for Millie to process what he’d told her. It was a lot to unpack, and he knew that. He didn’t want to rush her.
When Millie spoke again, her voice was quieter. “I eventually convinced myself I was better off without you. That you’d done me a favor by leaving before things got too serious.” She paused. “Then I met Garrick.”
Caleb’s jaw tightened at the name.
“He was everything you weren’t. Present. Attentive. He made grand gestures and said all the right things. I thought—this is what it’s supposed to feel like. This is what love looks like.” She paused, her hands twisting in her lap. “I was wrong.”
Caleb leaned forward, his voice urgent. “If I hadn’t left you—if I’d stayed—maybe you never would’ve met him. Maybe none of this would’ve happened.”
“No.” Millie looked at him then, her eyes red but fierce. “You don’t get to take responsibility for that. Garrick fooled me. That’s on him. And it’s on me for not seeing the signs sooner. But it’s not on you.”
“But—”
“Caleb, you broke my heart,” she said, her voice trembling. “And that hurt. It hurt so much. But what Garrick did—that’s different. That’s not your fault. Don’t carry that.”
Their gazes locked, and something shifted in the air between them.
The space suddenly felt smaller. Charged.
Caleb saw it in Millie’s eyes—the same pull he felt. The same unresolved feelings neither of them had been able to bury completely.
She still cared.
And so did he.
“I never stopped thinking about you.” His confession slipped out before he could stop it. “Not once.”
Millie’s breath hitched.
Then, slowly, she reached out.
She touched his cheek, her palm warm against his skin.
