“He’ll hate me,” I whispered.
Dani turned fully toward me. “He won’t hate you.”
I laughed, sharp and raw. “You don’t know him.”
“I know you,” she said. “And nobody can hate you.”
That cracked something.
The sob came out of me hard. My shoulders shook. My stomach clenched like it was trying to fold me in half.
Dani pulled me into her arms, and I let her, because I couldn’t hold myself together anymore.
“I wanted to stay,” I choked out against her shoulder. “I wanted to fight. I wanted to be the woman who could handle it. I wanted to be the one who came home and fixed everything and proved I wasn’t just some city girl. I wanted to be strong.”
Dani’s hand moved up and down my back, slow and steady. “You are strong.”
“No,” I said, and it came out viciously, because the word felt like a lie people told to make themselves comfortable. “Strong would’ve been staying and doing the work. I would've faced it and not panicked. Strong would’ve been calling the lawyer, making a plan, and sitting in that county office until they gave me answers. Strong would’ve been not letting Colin get under my skin again. Being strong would’ve been not needing Wyatt like a life raft.”
Dani held me tighter. “Stop.”
I pulled back just enough to look at her, eyes burning. “I don’t want to be someone who needs saving.”
Dani’s eyes were wet. “Nobody wants that. But sometimes you do, and that doesn’t make you weak. It makes you alive.”
I shook my head hard, tears flying. “I hate that I left Ray. He was my dad, Dani, and I never knew.”
Dani’s face softened as the words drained out of me.
My father was gone. His ranch was gone now, too. Thevalley was still out there under that huge sky, and I was here in a condo with beige carpet and city noise and a glass of water on a coffee table. It didn’t add up. It didn’t feel real.
Dani brushed my hair back from my forehead, gently. “Do you want to sleep?”
I swallowed. “I don’t think I can.”
“You can,” she insisted. “I’ll be right here. I’m not going anywhere.”
The promise hit a place that was still raw from being taken. From being trapped. From having my choices ripped away, and then having to make another choice that felt just as brutal.
“I’m scared,” I whispered.
Dani’s voice broke. “I know.”
“I’m scared that if I close my eyes, I’ll hear him,” I admitted, shame burning in my cheeks. “I’ll hear the cabin. I’ll hear the door. I’ll hear his voice telling me I’m choosing to stay, like I wanted any of it.”
Dani’s arms tightened around me until it almost hurt. “Listen to me. You’re safe. If you hear anything in this hallway, it’ll be Mrs. Bellows from 4B taking her recycling out and judging everyone’s life choices.”
I managed a wet, ugly laugh.
Dani kissed the side of my head. “That’s my girl.”
I closed my eyes for a second and tried to breathe.
My phone still sat heavy in my pocket.
I couldn’t ignore it forever.
After a minute, I pulled it out and stared at the dark screen.
