“And you think he's going to hurt you?”
Silence was my response because it was better than another lie.Grandma studied me for a long moment, her gaze softer now—but no less certain.
“Baby, you’re not scared of him hurting you,” she said gently.“You’re scared he won’t.”
“That doesn’t even make sense.”
“Doesn’t it?”she asked, one brow lifting.
“Because if he shows up the way you say he does, then what excuse do you have left to keep your guard up?”
And that was the million-dollar question, wasn't it?
“What if you let him love you?”She brushed a strand of hair from my face and smiled.“The same way you love him.”
Suddenly, the room was too small.Denial wretched its head again, but it was crushed by my rapid heartbeat.Every thought, every feeling I’d been carefully sidestepping, was now right in the open.
I let out a short, almost panicked laugh.“This isn’t—”
But the wordlovelodged somewhere in my throat.
Refused to come out.
And that terrified me more than anything else.
“Oh my God,” I whispered, more to myself than to her.
Because it was starting to feel like something I couldn’t logic my way out of.
I started pacing again, faster this time, my thoughts racing to catch up with the realization I didn’t want to name.
“I need to talk to him.”
The words slipped out before I could stop them, but once they were there, they felt right.
“I need to fix this,” I added, more certain now, grabbing my bag without thinking.“I can’t just sit here and—wait and overthink and let this get worse.I need to know where we stand.”
“Wait, baby, the rain—”
“I'll be fine!Bye, Grandma.”I quickly hugged her then dashed to the door.“Nice to meet you, Darrell!”
I barely registered his response because now my heart was pounding for an entirely different reason.
Urgency.
Panic.
Something dangerously close to hope.
As I rushed to the elevator, I punched in an offer for an Uber—which, thankfully, was only a minute away—then tried to call Nerissa, but all I got was her voicemail.
“Pick up, pick up, pick up,” I muttered as the elevator dinged and I stepped inside.
No answer.
“Dammit,” I cursed, hanging up and staring at the black screen.
Then a lightbulb moment came and I smiled, opening the Qupid app.
