Georgia looked down at her bare hand. The absence of the ring felt louder than any jewelry could have been.
“I gave it back,” she said.
“I’m sorry.”
Her eyes came up fast. “Don’t. Everyone keeps saying that. Dylan. You. Even Callum, in his own way.”
I stayed quiet.
She looked toward the door. “There’s no easy way to do this, so I’m just going to say it. I heard enough. I know he loves you. I think he’s loved you for a long time.”
My throat tightened.
“I wanted to hate you,” she continued. “It would have been easier. If you were cruel, if you came in here trying to take him, I could’ve made you the villain. I could’ve fought. But you didn’t do that.”
“I still hurt you.”
“Yes.” Her voice cracked. “You did. Both of you. But I’m not going to stand here and pretend I didn’t see how he looked at that door every time someone walked past. I’m not going to lie to myself anymore.”
She wiped under her eyes with the heel of her hand.
“I loved him,” she said. “Really loved him. That doesn’t just disappear because it wasn’t enough.”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t. Not yet.” She looked at me then, eyes red but steady. “He’s going to come to you. Maybe not today. Maybe not while he’s still hooked up to machines. But he will.”
I looked away.
“Don’t make it easy for him,” she said.
That brought my eyes back to her.
Georgia gave a small, tired shrug. “I’m not saying that because I want revenge. Okay, maybe a little. I’m human. But mostly because Dylan is very good at suffering instead of actually changing. He did it with me. He’ll do it with you if you let him. He’ll bleed nobly in a corner and call it love.”
I almost smiled. Almost.
“Don’t let him turn this into some tragic story he can worship instead of live,” she said. “Make him come honest. No noble lies. No secret touches. Make him say what he wants without using guilt as a translator.”
I nodded. “I will.”
She stood there for another second, then picked up her purse.
“I need to go. My dad’s coming to get me. I can’t drive like this.”
“That’s good.”
She paused at the door and looked back.
“I hope she makes you brave, Dylan,” she had told him. “Because I couldn’t.”
I stood in the family room long after the door closed, the words settling into my chest like stones.
When I finally stepped back into the hallway, Lily was waiting near the vending machines, pretending she hadn’t been close enough to intervene.
I walked straight to her and leaned my forehead against her shoulder.
She wrapped one arm around me and patted my back with a bag of pretzels.
