A tear slips free.
Then another.
They track down my cheeks, hot and humiliating, blurring the street into color and light. I swipe at them with the heel of my hand, angry at myself, furious that he still has this kind of access to me. That he can reach across time and cities and almost pull me back into that small, broken version of myself.
My throat tightens.
I press my lips together, but it doesn’t help. The sob catches anyway, ripping through my chest like it’s been waiting for permission. More tears follow, streaking down unchecked, my vision dissolving until everything is just shapes and motion.
I cry for the girl who believed him.
For the woman who thought she was past this.
For the foolish hope that the past would stay buried if I didn’t look at it too closely.
CHAPTER FORTY
Silas
I run into Delaney hard,as if she’s been fired out of a cannon.
One second, I’m juggling a bag of groceries and mentally arguing with myself about whether Boone really needs another lecture about bulk buying oats, and the next…
Impact.
Hard enough to knock the air out of both of us.
I stagger back, instinctively grabbing her arms so she doesn’t go down on the pavement. My bag hits the ground. Something glass clinks ominously.
“Fuck…”
Then she looks up.
And everything in me goes cold.
Delaney’s eyes are red, like she’s been crying hard and long and didn’t stop because she ran out of tears. She stopped because her body forced her to keep moving.
Her breathing is shallow and jerky. She’s fighting her lungs for control. Her face is blotchy, lashes clumped, mouth trembling, doing everything it can to not collapse completely.
She looks… wrecked.
“Oh,” she whispers when she recognizes me.
Just that.
One broken syllable.
She pulls back fast. Her hands fly to her face, swiping at tears as if she’s angry at them for existing.
“I’m sorry,” she says quickly. Too quickly. “I wasn’t looking. I didn’t mean to?—”
“Hey.” I step in front of her before she can bolt. “Sunshine. Stop.”
She doesn’t stop.
She tries to sidestep me, eyes fixed on the ground. Maybe she’s thinking if she doesn’t make eye contact, I’ll disappear.
Nope.
