I nodded.
Small movement.
Huge cost.
“We fight,” I said.
The monitor kept beeping.
Lie.
Truth.
Lie.
Truth.
It did not care which one my heart was telling.
Georgia bent and kissed my forehead.
Her lips were warm.
Soft.
Familiar.
I closed my eyes and let her.
Because this was the life I had chosen.
Because she had waited.
Because she deserved a man who did not turn every wound into an excuse to run toward the woman he should have claimed years ago or left alone completely.
Because Destiny had survived without me.
Because Destiny had built a life without me.
Because Destiny had just saved mine, and the only thing I could do now was not ruin hers again.
Georgia sat back down, still holding my hand.
She told me about the surgeon. About the next twenty-four hours. About Nate. About Callum in the waiting room looking like he was one bad update away from tearing the hospital down brick by brick. She talked because silence scared her.
I listened.
Or tried.
But somewhere under the medication, the pain, and Georgia’s shaking voice, Destiny’s confession kept playing like a pulse that belonged to someone else.
I never stopped loving you.
I love you.
Stay.
I turned my head toward the glass wall.
