Page 137 of When We Were Young

She’s so damn strong, and I’m certain she doesn’t even realize it. Formidable and selfless.

“The thing that makes me ill is that when my mom found out I was staying with him to protect her, it not only broke her heart, but she told me that I had never needed to do it. She said she would have been okay regardless. So, I packed up our life there, took what money I had saved, and moved to Elladine.”

“And that’s where you lived the entire time before you moved here, right?”

“Yeah, I rented a building and started a bakery. It was good for a few years until Landon finally figured out where we had moved to when we left Hollow Hills.”

“What did he do then?”

A sarcastic laugh escapes her.

“He bought the building where I had my business and used it as an excuse to come into the bakery whenever he wanted. To show up at my door and try to inject himself back into my life.”

“So, you left again,” I say, understanding.

“I did. I came here, and I thought he couldn’t hurt us anymore, even if he found us. I thought because I own this building, he couldn’t cause any issues for us.”

“He can’t hurt you. I won’t let him.” My voice is solid, sure.

“Holden, you don’t understand. There’s something wrong with him.”

She tells me about him showing up at her dad’s funeral, grabbing her arm. I’m frustrated she didn’t tell me when it happened, but glad she did now.

“He won’t stop. He’ll do everything he can to make you miserable or make you doubt me like he tried to make me doubt you.”

I frown. I’m battling to stay calm. The idea of him touching her and harming her enrages me.

“How did he try to do that? Make you doubt?”

She looks away and won’t meet my eyes, even when I ask her to.

“Lizette? Please tell me.”

“He… he told me that when we were in college, you weren’t as inexperienced as I thought. That you slept with a lot of girls who came through the frat parties before I knew you and while we were… uh, while we were together. He said that you were always the guy I saw at the end, and I had been blind before.”

I search her face, but I can’t tell what she’s thinking.

“Did you believe him?”

“I didn’t want to. I… I don’t. At least I don’t think I do. But I questioned it for a few minutes afterward, and that’s not fair to either of us.”

“Is that all he said about us?”

She shakes her head, and sorrow fills her eyes.

“He implied that you’re with others now, and I just think you’re only with me. He said I’ll never be able to hold on to you.”

The tears are back, and I gently wipe them away with the pads of my fingers.

“I swear to God that I’m not. And I won’t. Not ever.”

I’ll tell her every day for the rest of my life if that’s what she needs.

“But I should’ve just believed you. You deserve to be with someone who doesn’t doubt your relationship and who isn’t saddled with this deluded man who is obsessed with making my life miserable.”

“Hey, no.” I place a finger under her chin and gently lift it until she’s looking in my eyes. “I don’t want anyone else. I never have and I never will.”

The overwhelming gloominess pouring off her ignites a sense of insecurity in me. I can’t let her sink into these unsettling thoughts.