Page 69 of The Moment I Knew

“You know,” I added, trying to lighten the air between us, “if you’d told everyone that story instead of climbing balconies like a cartoon villain, your reputation might’ve improved.”

A quiet huff of laughter escaped him. Real this time.

“Yeah,” he said. “But then I wouldn’t have gotten this.”

“Gotten what?” I asked, voice embarrassingly breathless as his eyes never left mine. Then he nodded at the jacket wrapped around me. At the balcony. At me. My pulse skipped.

“Gotten to see you. Like this. With your guard down when you’re not saying what everyone wants to hear..”

I stared at him for a heartbeat. “I take it you aren’t vulnerable with people a lot.”

He shook his head quickly, a few short movements. The confirmation was all I needed for my heart to swell at being the one he chose to tell. “Thank you for telling me,” I said, softer this time.

He nodded once, like that was all he could manage. I stared out at the porch lights down the street, both of us seemingly lost in thought. It was a comfortable silence. Companionable even. Until my thoughts traipsed back to Lavender, to my mom in her special green dress going on a date. To my dad begrudgingly agreeing to come to my birthday party.

Then Cole’s voice broke through the swirl of my thoughts.

“You’re quiet,” he said. “You okay?”

I hesitated. The jacket felt heavier now, like it was holding me in place. I picked at the cuff, tracing the stitching with my thumb. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “Today’s just been… a lot too.”

He didn’t push. Just leaned his elbows on the railing, angling his body toward me without crowding my space. An open posture. Listening.

I swallowed. “I saw my dad today.”

His gaze sharpened, but he didn’t interrupt. Likely giving me the space to explain like I gave to him before.

“I asked him to come to my birthday party,” I continued. “I shouldn’t have—well, maybe I should have, I don’t know—but I did. And he said yes.”

Cole exhaled slowly. “How do you feel about that?”

I shrugged a shoulder. “I was happy,” I said immediately, tears pricking at my eyes. Then I quietly added, “I am happy. Or… I was.”

He waited.

I loosened a breath. “My sister and I fought about it. She thinks I’m wrong for even wanting him back around. For wanting everything back the way it was. And then,” I said, my voice thinning, “I came home and my mom was getting ready for a date.”

He went very still.

“A real date,” I added, like that somehow made it clearer. “Dress. Necklace. Nervous smile. The whole thing.”

The words tasted strange in my mouth, like they didn’t quite belong to me yet.

“She left with him tonight,” I said. “Right after.”

Cole’s jaw flexed, but he didn’t say anything.

“I know she deserves to move on,” I rushed, suddenly defensive even though he hadn’t said a word. “I know that. I do. And I want her to be happy. I just—” My breath hitched. “I didn’t realize how much I was still hoping she wouldn’t.”

The silence that followed wasn’t empty. It was solid. Steady.

Cole didn’t tell me it would be okay. He didn’t say I was wrong or selfish or naïve. He just stayed there, beside me, like the night could take its time.

“That sounds really hard,” he said finally.

My eyes burned. “It feels like I’m running out of time,” I whispered. “Like if I don’t fix things fast enough, I’ll lose the chance completely.”

He looked at me then—really looked at me.