My voice breaks on the last words.
Nate places a hand on my shoulder.
“You start by accepting that you’re allowed to be imperfect. And loved anyway.”
“I love her,” I admit.
It’s the purest truth I’ve ever spoken.
I fought it.
God, I fought it.
But I still fell hopelessly in love with her light, her warmth, her impossible heart.
“I love her, and I don’t know how to deserve her.”
“Then start by stopping the running,” Nate says simply.
We sit there in the truck in the middle of nowhere surrounded by the brutal beauty of the Highlands.
“And if I tell her everything and she rejects me?” I ask eventually.
“At least you tried. At least you won’t spend the rest of your life wondering what if.”
He pauses.
“And honestly? I don’t think she’ll reject you. But you have to be honest with her. Really honest. No fake arrangements. No pretending. No hiding behind protection.”
“How much time do I have?”
“I don’t know. A few days? Maybe a week? She’s interviewing for a clinic job in Perthshire.”
One week.
That’s all I have left to decide whether I keep punishing myself…
Or finally choose to live.
Nate starts the truck again.
“I’ll take you back. But what happens next is your choice. You can keep destroying yourself. Or you can fight for her. For both of you.”
The drive back happens in silence.
But this time, when I look at the Highlands rolling past outside the window, I actually see them.
The heather.
The stone walls.
The shifting sky.
The savage beauty of the land that somehow welcomed me despite my terrible attitude.
Nate drops me off outside the cottage.
“Finn?”
