“You don’t get to rewrite it like it was a lapse,” Evie said softly. “It wasn’t.”
Maggie nodded. “I know.”
The admission landed heavy.
Evie swallowed. “Then don’t talk about it like it doesn’t matter. You asked me to come here.”
Maggie stood, adjusting her jacket, her movements grounded and controlled—too controlled. “It mattered,” she said. “That’s the problem.”
Evie sat up fully now. “So what? This was a one-time mistake we just don’t mention again? Thank for the heads up”
Maggie turned, finally facing her. Her expression wasn’t stern. It wasn’t dismissive.
It was afraid.
“No,” Maggie said. “It was a choice. One I don’t regret.”
Evie’s breath caught.
“But,” Maggie continued, “I don’t get to make that choice again without consequences that aren’t just mine.”
Evie absorbed that slowly. “You’re trying to protect me.”
Maggie didn’t deny it.
“I didn’t ask you to,” Evie said.
“I know,” Maggie replied. “That’s what makes this harder.”
They stood there in the dim light, the intimacy of the night still clinging to the air between them, unspoken but undeniable.
Evie nodded once. “So what happens now? You know, you can be so fucking cold sometimes. You’re impossible to read.”
Maggie hesitated—just long enough for Evie to see the conflict there.
“We go back to work,” Maggie said. “We don’t blur lines. We don’t create expectations we can’t safely carry.”
Evie’s jaw tightened. “And you get to decide that alone?”
Maggie met her gaze. “I’m not deciding what you feel. I’m deciding what I can risk.”
Evie let out a breath through her nose. “And where does that leave me?”
Maggie didn’t answer immediately.
“That’s the part I don’t have a clean answer for,” she said finally.
Evie nodded again, slower this time.
“Okay,” she said. “Then here’s mine.”
Maggie looked at her.
“I won’t pretend this didn’t happen,” Evie said evenly. “And I won’t make myself smaller so you can keep control. You might be used to fucking with women’s heads, but I don’t play those games”
Maggie’s eyes flickered. She wasn’t used to being pushed. “That’s not what I’m asking.”
“It is,” Evie replied. “Just… politely.”
