She climbed up into the seat, her movements jerky and uncoordinated, and fumbled with the seatbelt.The buckle wouldn't catch.She tried again, hands trembling, and it still wouldn't lock.
He leaned in just enough to take the buckle from her shaking fingers and click it home.The sound of it engaging seemed to echo in the sudden quiet.
"I'm going to walk around and get in," he said."You're safe.Take a second."
She nodded, staring straight ahead through the windshield at nothing.
He rounded the truck, climbed behind the wheel, and started the engine.Not to drive anywhere.Just for the white noise of the engine running, something to fill the silence that wasn't her ragged breathing.
They sat without speaking for a long moment.The engine hummed.Outside, people walked past, oblivious, going about their ordinary days.
"I'm sorry," she said finally, her voice barely above a whisper."That was ridiculous."
"It wasn't."
"I saw him, and it was like..."Her fingers twisted together in her lap, tangling and untangling in an endless anxious loop."I was back in our kitchen.And he was standing in the doorway, counting the glasses in the cabinet."
Colby stared at the dashboard."Counting them?"
"To see if I'd had people over without telling him.To see if I'd washed them 'right.'To see if I'd put them back exactly where he wanted them to be."She let out a broken laugh that had no humor in it."It depended on the day.Sometimes it was glasses.Sometimes it was how I folded the towels.Sometimes it was whether I'd responded to his text within five minutes."Her jaw tightened."You'd think a grown woman could see her ex on a sidewalk without completely folding."
Colby wanted to get out of the truck, walk back across the street, drag the man into an alley, and explain a few things with his fists.The urge was so strong his knuckles ached from gripping the steering wheel.
He kept his hands where they were.This wasn't about him.
"What you did," he said, keeping his voice level, "was notice a threat and get yourself out of the situation.That's not folding.That's survival."
She stared through the windshield."I wonder if he's lurking around to see what people are saying about the fire.He'll have thoughts.He always has thoughts.And he'll try to make it seem like I had something to do with it.Like I set it myself for the insurance money or attention or whatever story makes him look like the victim."
"His thoughts don't get a vote," Colby said.
"You haven't met him."
"He's your ex."Colby turned his head to look at her."That's enough context.You walked away from him.That matters more than anything he's got to say."
Her chin trembled.She pressed her lips together hard, fighting the emotion that wanted to break through.
"He didn't want me to keep Norman House after my grandparents died," she whispered."He wanted me to sell.Take the money and 'get a life that isn't chained to a reception desk,' those were his exact words.I told him the inn was my life.It was the only thing I had left of my grandparents, the only piece of them I could still touch."Her mouth twisted."He told me I was sentimental and stupid."
Colby's jaw went tight."He was wrong."
"He was very sure he wasn't."Her grip on her knees tightened, knuckles going white."He was very fond of that word.'Stupid.'Used it like punctuation.Everything I did that he didn't like was stupid.Every opinion I had that he disagreed with was stupid.Every dream I had that didn't fit his plan was stupid."
She fell silent for a moment, her breath catching.
"He had a plan for my life," she continued."And I kept messing it up by having my own."
"How long were you with him?"Colby asked, keeping his voice soft.
"Too long."She stared at her hands."Long enough that I still hear his voice in my head when I try to make decisions without him.Which is really helpful now, when everything I own is ash, and I'm trying to figure out what to do next."
He turned toward her fully."You made a call yesterday.On your land, standing in the middle of what used to be your inn.You said you're not selling.That was your voice, not his."
"What if I was wrong?"she asked, her voice small.
"You weren't."His tone didn't waver."You were clear.You know what that land means to you.I trust that."
Silence stretched between them, taut and fragile.
