“No.” My gaze locked on hers. “Walking away would be the mistake.”
She laughed once under her breath.
No humor in it.
“God, you really don’t understand, do you?”
“Then help me understand.”
“No.”
Too fast.
Too automatic.
Like she’d spent years saying that word before anyone could get close enough to ask harder questions.
I studied her quietly.
The shadows beneath her eyes.
The tension pulling her shoulders tight.
The way she kept glancing toward the door like escape was still an option.
“I heard what he said in the tavern.”
Her chin lifted immediately. Defensive.
“Congratulations.”
“I don’t believe him.”
That stopped her cold.
Hope flickered across her face so fast it barely existed.
Then it disappeared beneath anger.
“You should.”
“I should what?”
“Believe him.” Her arms wrapped around herself tightly. “That’s what everybody else did.”
“I’m not everybody else.”
“That’s what they all think in the beginning.”
I pushed away from the counter slowly. “Tessa—”
“Stop saying my name like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like…” She broke off sharply, frustrated. “Like you already decided who I am.”
I frowned. “I decided you deserve someone actually listening to you.”
