So I don’t try.
I stay where I am, close enough to feel her warmth, close enough that if I turned, if I pulled her in, it would be easy.
Too easy.
That’s the problem.
Because I know myself well enough to know I wouldn’t stop at just that.
My jaw tightens as I keep my eyes forward.
“Yeah,” I say finally, my voice quieter now, rougher around the edges. “I’m sorry you lost that too.”
She turns toward me like the words actually reach her, like they land somewhere that matters. “Yeah… exactly.”
Her hand moves absently over Marvel’s fur as she stares somewhere past me, lost in it.
“When someone you love dies,” she continues softly, “it’s not just them that’s gone… it’s everything that was supposed to come after. All the plans you had together that just… don’t exist anymore.”
Her voice softens at the end, like the words cost something to say.
She lets out a small breath, shaking her head. “I don’t know.”
Something in me shifts.
Before I think about it, my hand moves, closing around hers where it rests in her lap.
Her fingers still beneath mine, warm and soft, and the contact hits harder than it should, a quiet kind of awareness settling in that I don’t pull away from.
I don’t tighten my grip either.
I just hold it.
“It’s not fair,” I say, my thumb brushing lightly once over her knuckles before I can stop myself.
Lexy looks up at me, her eyes still wet, but clearer now. “No… it’s not.”
I should let go.
I don’t.
I hold her hand a second longer than I should, long enough for it to stop feeling accidental, long enough for something else to settle in its place.
Life stole from her.
Took something and broke her.
And damn it if I wouldn’t do anything to keep that kind of hurt from ever getting near her again.
The thought hits harder than anything else has tonight, heavier than it should be for someone I barely know.
And for once, there’s nothing sarcastic to hide behind.
Nothing to deflect with.
So I don’t.
I just sit there beside her, holding her hand a second too long, letting the quiet stretch between us, knowing full well I’m already in deeper than I ever planned to be.
