I blink. “You do?”
“Yeah.”
“For how long?”
His lips twitch. “A bit.”
I glare.
“You blocked me?” he says.
“You noticed?”
“Of course, I noticed.”
“Then maybe you should have taken a hint.”
He nods once. “Still wanted to try.”
I exhale sharply. “You don’t get to just show up here and assume everything is fixed.”
“I’m not?—”
“Really? Because it looks a lot like you’re trying to fix it.”
“I’m trying to explain.”
I laugh, short and sharp. “Explain what? That you have terrible timing? That you can’t follow through on a single plan? That?—”
“It wasn’t random.”
The words cut through mine.
I stop.
Because something in his tone— steady, controlled, serious— makes me listen.
“Then what was it?” I ask, quieter now. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks exactly like every other time a man has decided I’m not worth sticking around for.”
His jaw tightens. “That’s not what this is.”
“Then tell me what it is.”
He glances around, then back at me. “Walk with me.”
I hesitate. I really shouldn’t. But… I’m curious. And, damn it all, completely captivated by him.
We step outside, the evening air cooler now, quieter. For a second, neither of us speaks.
“It’s my sister,” he says.
I go still.
“She lost her husband last year fighting a fire,” he continues, voice steady but lower now. “He’s one of the best men I’ve ever known.”
My chest tightens.
“He was also one of mine,” he adds. “We served together. I set them up”
