"I'm not that person anymore. I'm broken, Claire. Fucked up in ways you can't even imagine."
"Then let me imagine them." She takes my face in her hands, forces me to look at her. "Let me see all of it. The broken parts, the fucked up parts, all of it. I'm not going anywhere."
God, I want to believe her.
But Gerald's words keep echoing in my head. Grooming. Calculated. What would Marcus think?
"I need some time," I hear myself say.
Her hands drop. "Time?"
"To think. To figure out what the right thing is here."
"The right thing is us, Max. The right thing is what we've been building together."
"Is it?" I turn away, stare at the half finished eagle on my workbench. "Or is it just what we want? What I want?"
Silence.
When she speaks again, her voice is small. "Are you pushing me away?"
"I'm trying to do what's best for you."
"What's best for me is being with you."
"How can you be sure?" I spin back around. "How can you know this isn't just trauma response? You ran from a broken engagement, from a controlling stepfather, from a mother who never protected you. Maybe I'm just the next safe place. Another hiding spot until you figure out what you really want."
The hurt on her face is unbearable.
"Is that what you think I'm doing? Hiding?"
"I don't know what to think anymore."
She stares at me for a long moment. I watch the tears gather in her eyes, watch her fight them back with the same stubborn strength I've come to adore.
"Then I'll make it easy for you." Her voice breaks on the last word. "Call me when you figure it out."
She walks out without looking back.
And I let her go.
CHAPTER EIGHT
CLAIRE
Idon't go back to the inn.
I can't. Gerald is there, waiting like a spider in his web, ready to spin more lies and manipulation. My mother is there too, complicit in her silence as always.
Instead, I walk.
Through the streets of Grizzly Ridge, past Maggie's Diner where the dinner crowd is gathering, past Hilda's General Store where the lights are just flickering on. I walk until my feet ache and the sun dips below the mountains, painting the sky in shades of orange and pink.
I end up at Sarah and Miguel's cabin.
Sarah takes one look at my face and pulls me inside without a word. She settles me on her couch, wraps a blanket around my shoulders, and presses a cup of tea into my hands.
"Tell me everything."
