That landed harder than anger would have.
Tilly let out a quiet laugh that didn’t feel like laughter. “Okay.”
“It doesn’t mean you’re a problem,” Savannah said quickly. “It was about my fear. About work. About me spiraling. Not about you being wrong or bad or something I regret.”
Tilly looked back at the list.
The word was still there.
“You wrote it down,” they said. “You decided it was true enough to save.”
Savannah’s jaw tightened. “And then I chose you. Again. And again. I’m choosing you now.”
Tilly nodded. They wanted to believe her. They really did. But the word slid too neatly into an old, familiar place in their chest. The place that told them they were fine until they weren’t. Wanted until they complicated things.
Savannah watched them, waiting. Open. Already trying to fix it.
“I need a minute,” Tilly said.
Savannah’s shoulders dropped just slightly. “A minute to, what?”
“To think,” Tilly said. “To not say something I can’t take back.”
Silence stretched between them.
Savannah crossed her arms, defensive without meaning to be. “If you don’t want to keep doing this, then don’t.”
Tilly looked up sharply. “That’s not what I said.”
“But it’s what it feels like,” Savannah said. “You don’t trust me.”
The words landed heavy and true and wrong all at once.
“I don’t know how to right now,” Tilly said quietly.
Savannah turned away, pacing once across the kitchen before facing them again. “Then maybe you should go.”
Tilly’s chest tightened.
That was not what they wanted. Not even close. But Savannah sounded raw, like she was done defending herself, done being the one who had to explain.
“I don’t want to leave,” Tilly said carefully. “I just need a little space. To figure out how not to screw this up.”
Savannah nodded once. Sharp. Controlled. “I think you should leave.”
It sounded final.
Tilly opened their mouth. Nothing came out.
They grabbed their jacket instead.
The door clicked shut behind them too quietly.
Tilly stood in the hallway for a long moment, forehead pressed lightly to the cool wood, heart racing.
Things had been going so well.
They still were. Weren’t they?
