“Guess you didn’t come here to say hi,” I say, keeping my tone even.
Evan’s gaze flicks between us, landing on Tessa before finding me again. “I came to talk. You both have been blowing off my calls and messages. I guess I figured it was time.”
Tessa squeezes my hand. When I glance over at her, I realize she’s trembling, and it’s not from the cold. We’d talked about this, about how I was going to reach out to him. I just didn’t think it would be like this. Not here. Not now.
She swallows hard, eyes darting between us. “Maybe I should leave—”
“No,” I cut in, but she’s already pulling the strap of her bag higher on her shoulder.
“Clay, it’s fine,” she says softly. “I’ll go inside and wait. You two should talk.” She turns to me, holding out her hand. “Can I get your keys?”
Before I can move, Evan speaks.
“Don’t,” he says, his voice sharper now.
Tessa freezes, glancing back at him.
He steps closer, the streetlight catching the tension in his jaw. “You don’t have to go anywhere, Tessa.”
Her brows knit together, her voice careful. “I think maybe it’s better if—”
“I said you don’t have to,” he repeats, quieter but firm this time.
The space between us tightens. My jaw clenches. I take a step toward him, putting myself slightly in front of her. Not because I need to protect her from him, but because this is between us anyway.
“Then say what you came here to say,” I tell him.
Evan exhales, running a hand through his hair like he’s trying to keep control of something already slipping. “I didn’t come here to start anything.”
“Then what?”
His eyes flick to Tessa again, softer this time. “I just needed to see it for myself.”
Neither of us speaks.
The air’s cold enough that every breath comes out in small puffs. Somewhere down the block, a door shuts, muffled voices fading into the night. The rest of the world around us keeps moving, but right here, everything is still.
And I know that whatever comes next will change everything.
Evan stands there for a long moment, his breath visible in the cold. His hands flex inside his jacket pockets before he finally speaks.
“When the story broke,” he says, voice low, “I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was another rumor. You know how reporters are, always twisting things for clicks.” His gaze lands on me. “But when I called you, and you didn’t answer, when you didn’t respond to my texts, I knew it had to be true. Then I saw the post-game interview...”
Tessa exhales softly beside me, her hand drifting to the pendant at her neck, rolling it between her fingers.
Evan looks back and forth between us, his expression more tired than angry. “Why didn’t either of you tell me?”
I shift my weight, forcing myself to meet his eyes. “Because I didn’t know how.”
It’s the truth. The words hang there, heavy but honest.
He lets out a small laugh that doesn’t sound amused. “You didn’t know how?”
“No,” I say quietly. “We didn’t plan for any of this. It just… happened. And when it did, we were still trying to figure out what it meant. I didn’t want to drag you into something that might not even last a week.”
Tessa nods, her voice soft. “We weren’t hiding it to hurt you. We just didn’t want to make it worse than it had to be. We were both still trying to understand it ourselves.”
Evan studies us for a moment, then his jaw tightens. “So what I’m hearing is, thereissomething between you.”
