“Jasmine—”
“I need space.” She says it quietly. “Not forever. I just need time to think. I need to figure out if loving you is worth what it's costing both of us.”
My jaw tightens. My hands grip the edge of the counter behind me. Every instinct I have is screaming at me to argue, to fight, to tell her she's wrong. But the look on her face stops me. She's not angry or cold. She's devastated.
“How much time?” I ask.
“I don't know.”
“Are you ending this?”
“I don't know, Logan. I just know I can't think clearly when you're standing in front of me.”
I push off the counter. I want to cross the kitchen and take her in my arms and hold her until the fear dissolves. But she asked for space, and I’ll respect that, as hard as it is.
“Okay,” I say. “I'll give you space. But I need you to know that I'm not going to stop fighting for us. Call me when you're ready. I'll be waiting.”
I pick up my jacket from the chair where I dropped it and walk to the door. My hand is on the knob when her voice stops me.
“Logan.”
I turn.
She's standing in the kitchen with tears running down her face. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
I open the door, walk out and close it behind me. The click of that latch is the loneliest sound I've ever heard.
28
Jasmine
On Monday morning, I'm at my desk at seven-forty-five. I slept three hours. My eyes are swollen, and I've layered concealer under them until they look almost normal. The only person who will see through it is Clara.
The weekend was long. On Saturday, I cleaned my apartment from top to bottom. I scrubbed the bathroom, organized my closet, and changed the sheets that still smelled like Logan. On Sunday, I worked. I sat at my dining table and reviewed contracts for nine hours straight and didn't look at my phone.
He texted once on Sunday.I'm here when you're ready.
I didn't reply.
Clara appears in my doorway at eight-fifteen with two coffees. She hands me one and sits in the chair across from my desk. “Talk.”
“About what?”
“About why you look like you've been crying all weekend.”
I take the coffee. “I told Logan I needed space.”
Clara puts her cup down. “Why?”
“His parents haven't spoken to him since the dinner. His mother won't return his calls, and his father is giving him thesilent treatment. He's lost three games in a row, and he's not sleeping. And all of it started when he stood up for me.”
“So you pushed him away to protect him from the consequences of choosing you.”
When she says it like that, it sounds ridiculous. “I pushed him away because I can't be the reason his family falls apart.”
“Jasmine, his family was falling apart long before you showed up. His mother dismisses his brother's fiancée. His father runs his career like a corporation. You didn't cause those cracks.”
