Page 47

I turned toward him, unsure what I had expected him to say next, but it definitely wasn’t that.

The question settled heavily between us because there was no easy answer.

I cared about Yonas… deeply. He had been good to me, good to Kaidence, and had shown up for me during a time when I needed something steady. But caring about somebody and loving them the way they deserved to be loved were not always the same thing.

I looked down at our joined hands, unable to meet his gaze.

The silence was the only answer he needed.

Yonas let out a single, quiet laugh under his breath—not mean, not bitter, just resigned to the reality he had probably sensed coming for months.

“Yonas, I care about you. I do. But you deserve a partner who can give you one hundred percent of herself. Somebody who—”

“Stop,” he interrupted, his voice firm but not rude.

I clamped my mouth shut.

“I don’t need the lecture about what I deserve, Lakelyn. I’m a grown ass man. I know exactly what this is.” He glanced over my shoulder, his eyes resting for a brief second on the framed photograph lying on the bed. “I came into your life after a man you never finished loving. I know he left you with no closure, but just because somebody disappears doesn’t mean your feelings for them disappear too.”

I had no defense for that.

Yonas was right, and pretending otherwise would have been an insult to the time we had shared.

After a long moment, Yonas gave a single, decisive nod. “Okay.”

I blinked up at him. “Okay?”

“Yeah.”

“So… you’re not angry?”

“I ain’t happy about the shit,” he admitted honestly. “Nobody likes getting cut loose. But I’m sure as hell not about to beg a woman to keep me when her mind is already made up.”

“I would never want you to do that.”

I stepped into his chest and wrapped my arms around his neck.

Yonas hesitated before wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me close. His scent hit me immediately, a familiar mix of expensive cologne, clean cedar, and freshly washed clothes.

For a few brief seconds, I let myself lean into the comfort of his embrace, resting my forehead against his shoulder.

Yonas had been safety in the middle of a storm. In another life, one where I wasn’t still holding on to a man who possibly could’ve been alive somewhere in the world, leaving me trapped between hope and grief, Yonas might have been everything I ever wanted… and needed.

When I stepped back, I reached up and lightly brushed my fingers against his cheek.

“Thank you. For everything you’ve done for me and Kaidence.”

“You don’t owe me a thank-you for treating you the way you were supposed to be treated,” he said smoothly.

I gave him a small nod, and then the realization hit me. “Oh—the car.”

His expression instantly hardened into stone. “No.”

A surprised laugh bubbled out of me. “I didn’t even say anything yet.”

“You were about to try and hand me the keys.”

“Because I should.”