“I’m sorry,” I say again.
“Don’t be.” He smiles, it’s kind, patient, and not bitter at all. “I like you, Sarah. But not enough to compete with whatever that was.”
Heat creeps into my cheeks. “Oh my god, I’m… embarrassed.”
“You shouldn’t be. That man looked at you like you hung the moon.”
My breath stumbles. I look toward the door Jace just walked through.
Brian chuckles softly. “Go easy on yourself, okay?”
I nod, slow and unsure. But inside me, something shakes loose.
Something raw.
Something unavoidably, painfully true.
Brian stands when I do. “Really… take care of yourself, okay?”
“I will,” I say, even though I don’t fully believe it.
He gives me a small nod, then adds lightly, “See you in the building.”
“Yeah,” I say, managing a small smile. “Of course.”
He walks out, his silhouette disappearing into the Saturday foot traffic, calm and uncomplicated in a way my life has never been.
The moment the door closes behind him, the weight of it sits in my chest in a way that feels too heavy, too sharp to ignore.
I grab my bag and head for my car before I can fall apart inside the coffee shop.
Once I slide into the driver’s seat and shut the door, the quiet hits fast, giving me a second to actually register what just happened inside that coffee shop. Brian and Jace… the entire situation really.
I drop my forehead to the steering wheel and let out a breath.
God… I still want him.
Even when it hurts and it shouldn’t, even when walking away would make far more sense than whatever this is, I still want him.
My fingers curl against the steering wheel. My pulse won’t settle.
Because Brian was good in all the ways that should matter. Steady, uncomplicated, the kind of man who won’t pull you into the kind of storm you swore you’d never fall into again.
But Jace walked in and looked at me like he was barely holding himself together, and my whole world rearranged itself without my permission.
I squeeze my eyes shut and whisper into the quiet:
“I can't be the person who helps him forget her.” My voice cracks on the final part.
“I need to know what he’s actually thinking,”
The words settle in my chest like a fault line shifting — inevitable and terrifying and final.
Because I know exactly where my heart is—it’s right here, finally starting to heal, and I won’t let him break it again just because he’s lonely. The truth of where my heart is hasn't changed since college. But for the first time, that truth isn't enough to make me run back to him.
Chapter Fourteen
Signed and Severed
