“You left,” he says, and I don’t miss the slight catch in his voice. “You don’t get to just come back here and start changing everything.”
I open my arms wide in exasperation. “Ihadto leave. Youknowthat. And it’s my job to change things. It’s why your dad hired me!”
Silas studies me for a long moment before he nods, so small I almost miss it. “I know.”
My arms fall to my sides, and the distance between us feels bigger than it did a minute ago. Even from here, I can see the pain in his eyes, and I’m glad I’m far enough away that I don’t have to look into the depths of it.
At least not right now. I don’t think I can handle it right now.
“So… what’s the problem, then?” I ask, trying to ignore my own pain.
His chest rises and falls, and he turns his head, looking out into the trees again. His fingers curl tight, and he picks at the edge of his thumb as his jaw clenches.
Right now, he looks exactly like the boy I knew all those years ago, who struggled with everything. The boy who had to work so hard just to hold it all together when the world was trying to tear him down.
And I don’t know how to tell him that I’m not here to tear him or his world down. Because I know that’s all he sees when he looks at me.
“I know change is hard for you,” I say quietly.
His eyes shift to meet mine again, and they glisten before he blinks it away. “You don’t know me.”
I stare back at him, blinking a few times as I bite the inside of my cheek.
He’s right.
I don’t know him. Not anymore.
And I hate that feeling.
“I know,” I say with a nod, emotion welling in my chest.
Once again, I want to just go to him. I want to walk across this space between us and say fuck it and hug him and make everything go back to the way it used to be. But I know we can’t. I know it doesn’t work like that. And I know that’s not what he wants.
His gaze drops, and Winston looks up at him as Silas turns towards the cabin.
When his back is to me, I pull a breath in and let the words spill out. “I want to, though.”
He pauses and slowly turns to look at me again. “Why?”
My brow furrows. “What do you mean, why? You were my best friend.”
He blinks, dropping his eyes for a moment as he shifts his weight. When he looks up at me again, I swear I see the wall lower just a little bit, and I see more of him behind it.
“Then why did you let me go?”
He might as well just send a dagger across the driveway, right into my heart.
That day on the beach flickers in my mind as I picture him walking away from me, and hurt overrides everything else I might have been feeling.
“Why did you?” I ask.
Silence stretches between us as we just stand here staring at each other, and a soft breeze moves through the pine and bare maple trees around us, while birds chirp softly in the distance. But a storm is brewing in the middle of this peaceful place.
I watch as Silas’s wall shifts back into place, and his chin lifts slightly. “Because it hurt to keep chasing something I didn’t belong in.”
Then he turns, heads inside the cabin, and slams the door behind him.
Winston whines as we both stare at the closed door.
