I look at her. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, yes, he lied about his name. That's huge. But what's the thing underneath that? The thing that's really eating at you?”
I open my mouth to answer, nothing comes out. The truth is ugly, and I don't want to say it out loud.
Zoe waits.
“I'm afraid he didn't tell me because he doesn't think I'm good enough.” The words taste like ash. “His family is wealthy and powerful. I'm nobody. A girl with no family, no connections, nothing to offer except student debt and emotional baggage. Maybe he kept me separate from that part of his life because he knew I'd never fit.”
“Emma...”
“And I'm afraid that if I let him explain, he'll twist it around somehow. Make me feel like I'm the one who overreacted. Like I'm crazy for being hurt.” I swallow hard. “James used to do that. Every time I caught him in a lie, he'd spin it until I was the one apologizing. And I can't... I can't go through that again.”
Zoe takes my hand. “You're not crazy. And you're not overreacting. He lied about something massive, and you have every right to be hurt.”
“But?”
“But…” She squeezes my fingers. “Kaiden isn't James. I've seen the way he looks at you. The way he treats you. James made you smaller. Kaiden makes you bigger. That has to count for something.”
“Does it? If the foundation is a lie?”
“That's what you need to find out.” Zoe meets my eyes. “Not for him. For you. If you walk away now without hearing him out, you'll always wonder. That kind of wondering will eat you alive.”
I think about the texts on my phone. The voicemail I haven't listened to. The way he saidI love youlast night.
“What if he can't explain it? What if there's no good reason?”
“Then you'll know, and you can walk away clean.” Zoe shrugs. “But what if there is a reason? What if he was tryingto protect you from them? What if the lie wasn't about you not being good enough, but about him not feeling good enough?”
I hadn't thought about it that way.
“Fine.” I exhale. “I'll hear him out. I need to know the truth. All of it.”
“That sounds healthy.”
“I'm terrified.”
“Also healthy.” Zoe smiles gently. “Do you want me to come with you?”
I shake my head. “This is something I need to do alone.”
I finally press play on the voicemail.
His voice fills the room. Rough. Exhausted. Nothing like the polished man I thought I knew.
“Emma. I know you probably don't want to hear from me right now. I need you to know that everything I felt, everything between us, was real. I should have told you sooner. I should have told you from the beginning. I was scared that if you knew where I came from, you'd look at me the way everyone else does. Like I'm my father's son.
“You're the first person who's ever seen me. Just me. And I was terrified of losing that.
“I'm not asking you to forgive me. I'm asking for a chance to explain. To tell you everything and let you decide what happens next.
“Please, Emma. I'll wait as long as it takes.”
The voicemail ends.
Zoe watches me. “Well?”
“He sounds wrecked.”
