“Running away before things get real.”
Seraphina closes her eyes, and the memories come flooding back.
“I didn’t come here to argue,” she whispers.
“No.” Nerissa’s voice softens. “We never come here to argue.”
The silence fills with memories. Years of clandestine meetings, hotel rooms, airports, deleted messages, and goodbyes that were never truly final. Everything that should never have existed and yet always finds a way to return.
Seraphina slowly turns toward her.
“You left…” she dares to accuse.
Nerissa lets out a short laugh.
“You were the one who reorganized half the clinic to avoid running into me.”
Guilt pierces Seraphina’s chest.
“I needed some space.”
“No,” Nerissa replies, staring at her. “You needed to punish me for something that actually terrified you.”
Seraphina clenches her jaw until pain radiates through her head.
“You don’t know what I was thinking that night.”
“You were thinking about Elliot. About your children. About everything except yourself,” Nerissa says.
Nerissa takes another step closer.
“And I got tired of always being that part of your life you hide whenever panic takes over.”
Something cracks inside Seraphina. For six months, she’s convinced herself she did the right thing, that the distance was necessary. But having Nerissa standing right in front of her shows her just how exhausted she is from pretending to be indifferent.
“Daphne Mercer seemed like a good distraction,” she blurts out, unable to hold back.
Nerissa raises an eyebrow, surprised.
“So you were asking about me?”
Seraphina looks away, embarrassed.
“These places thrive on rumors.”
“The thing with Daphne only lasted a few weeks,” Nerissa confesses.
Seraphina’s chest tightens in an absurd way.
“And why did it end?”
Nerissa looks at her for a moment that feels like an eternity.
“Because I kept comparing her to what I had with you. And that never works.”
Seraphina’s heart pounds violently.
“Nerissa…”
