Then it’s like something has unlocked inside her.
She devours the omelet, eating it as though she hasn’t had a full meal in far too long—and maybe she hasn’t.
Fuck, with everything that’s happened, I haven’t really processed that she’s far too thin. Her cheekbones stand out in sharp relief, her jawline sharp—too sharp. And there’s a fragility about her she never had before, not even when she first left the farm and crossed paths with the shitstorm that’s my life.
I know it’s not physical, the bruise on my temple tells me that much, but I still fucking hate it.
I hate you.
Right. Probably as much as she hates me.
For leaving her that day, for hurting her so deeply.
I slide my omelet onto her plate and she stills, those eyes that see too much and reveal nothing aside from disdain, glancing across mine.
Then she uses the edge of her fork to cut off a piece and pops it into her mouth.
I’m hungry but my stomach is in knots.
No way could I eat anything right now.
So I clean up, the silence only broken by the clink of her fork and the splash of water and the rattle of the pans.
Eventually there are no more dishes, nothing else to put away.
Nothing except the pressing silence, closing in on all sides, leaving me at a complete loss as what to say and do and…
“I need to go,” she says, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the can of air freshener, setting it on the counter.
“Don’t.”
She freezes, fingers spasming on the can, but then her voice changes—for the first time losing the edge of biting frost. “I’m not going to hurt you again.” Her throat works. “I didn’t like…” A shake of her head. “I need to go.”
“Don’t,” I rasp again.
A breath. “You have no right to ask me to stay.”
That’s true. I was the one who walked away, who shattered what we had and threw the pieces to the side.
“I know,” I say quietly. “But stay anyway.”
She shakes her head, steps back from the counter, turns for the hall.
My heart drops.
“The scars?”
A hitch in her step. “They don’t matter.”
“They do to me.”
“Are you sure?”
Fuck. The ice is back.
The gulf between us is so fucking wide that I don’t even know where to begin. I just…
“Don’t go.”
