“Then she deserves that choice.”
I run both hands through my hair. “Fuck.”
“You’re not the same guy you were back then,” Jake says. “You were reckless and brilliant and impossible to pin down.”
“And now?”
“Now you’re trying to be good.”
That hits harder than it should.
Because Iamtrying. For Sienna. For myself. For all the mistakes I made when I was younger.
But maybe not enough.
We stand there for a few more seconds, two men bound by years, loss, and a single kiss that I never dreamed would happen.
Then Jake claps me once on the back—just like old times—and turns away, heading back toward the house like he didn’t just blow my world apart and walk off with the pieces.
I stay behind, staring out at the sea.
The breeze picks up.
I did love Jake.
Part of me still does.
But I can’t—won’t—sacrifice the future I started building with Sienna just to resurrect a past I barely survived.
Still…
That kiss.
It wasn’t just reminiscence.
Itmeantsomething.
I have to face the cost of that meaning.
I turn back toward the path that leads to the mansion.
Somewhere in that house is a woman I’ve hurt. A woman I might lose.
And if she never forgives me?
I’ll deserve it.
But I’ll tell her anyway.
Every word.
Every truth.
Even the one I wished so profoundly to forget.
I sigh.
How do you love two people at once?
