Out here, it was just us and the wind.
Then quietly, almost like she regretted saying it the second it left her mouth—
“I shouldn’t have stayed.”
That caught me off guard.
“You mean at the hospital?”
“I mean anywhere.” Her laugh was soft and hollow. “Everywhere I go lately… people get hurt.”
I studied her for a long second.
The exhaustion.
The guilt.
The cracks she kept trying to bury under control.
“You really believe that?”
“I don’t know what I believe anymore.”
There it was again.
That fracture widening.
I should’ve stayed where I was.
Should’ve let her have the distance she clearly wanted.
Instead, my hand lifted before I could stop myself.
I brushed a streak of dirt from her cheek with my thumb.
Her breath caught.
Mine nearly did too.
The world narrowed down to cold air and the warmth of her skin beneath my hand.
She looked up at me slowly.
Too close.
Way too close.
Then she stepped back.
The loss of contact hit harder than it should’ve.
“Don’t,” she whispered.
My voice came out rougher than I intended. “Don’t what?”
Her eyes searched mine for half a second.
“Make this harder.”
