“The movie was bad.”
A laugh breaks through my tears.
“Cole.”
“Yes,” he says again. “I love you.”
I press my hand to his chest, right over the heart that is not quite as calm as he looks. “I love you too.”
His breath catches and he suddenly seems more real to me than ever.
I slide my hand up to his jaw. “I don’t know what tomorrow looks like.”
“I know.”
“There will be statements. Detectives. Lawyers. Headlines.”
“Yes.”
“And grief.”
“Yes.”
“And probably moments where I miss her and hate myself for it.”
“You don’t have to hate yourself for loving someone before you knew the truth.”
The tears spill over then. Not the same tears as before. These do not tear me apart. They wash something clean.
“I need to learn how to believe that,” I whisper.
“I’ll remind you.”
“For how long?”
His gaze holds mine.
“As long as it takes.”
My fingers curl against his jaw. “That sounds like staying.”
“It is.”
He leans forward until his forehead touches mine. For a moment, we stay like that, breathing the same air, the empty popcorn bowl between us and the awful movie credits rolling into silence.
The world is not fixed.
Vanessa is in custody, but tomorrow will bring the brutal work of looking back at every memory with new eyes. My house in Orlando will not feel like mine for a while. My phone will not feel harmless. Friendship will not feel simple.
Cole cannot stop that. He cannot give me the old version of my life back. But he is here. Not because someone assigned him to me. Because he loves me. And because when he says he will stay, I believe him.
I kiss him softly.
Cole lets me lead it. His hand rests on me. Then his arms tighten around me. I let myself sink into the safest place I know.
Epilogue
Kara
