Page 39 of Only Be Mine

Amy reached out and took my hand. “Cate, you didn’t move on because you didn’t care.”

“But he made me feel…” I trailed off, searching for the right words. “Seen. Like I wasn’t being evaluated. Like I didn’t have to earn my place.”

Amy’s fingers tightened around mine.

“How do you stop loving someone when you don’t know why they disappeared?” I asked. “When you don’t know if they would’ve stayed if they could?”

Amy swallowed. “You don’t. You just learn how to live with the space.”

We stood there in silence, the lake breathing softly beside us.

Amy exhaled. “Remember that time we all went up to the lake?”

The question caught me off guard.

I blinked. “Yeah,” I said softly. “I remember.”

Of course I did.

“You came back different,” Amy said. “Not happier exactly. Just… lighter.”

I closed my eyes.

I could feel it, the way the air had felt on my skin, the way laughter had come easier, the way I’d slept through the night for once.

“I wasn’t afraid,” I said. “Not of him. Not of what we were.”

Amy nodded. “You don’t feel like that with Trevor.”

I didn’t answer.

Because that was the part that hurt the most.

We reached the water’s edge. The lake stretched out in front of us, calm and wide, like it was holding its breath.

“How did love feel to you then?” Amy asked.

“It felt like I could breathe,” I said finally. “Like I wasn’t auditioning.”

Amy nodded, tears brightening her eyes. “That’s the Cate I remember.”

I swallowed hard. “I don’t know if I’ve felt that since.”

The lake rippled as the wind shifted.

Amy squeezed my hand once. “Then maybe that’s the question you need to answer.”

I opened my eyes and stared out over the water.

Tomorrow was still coming.

The dress. The vows. The life I’d agreed to.

But standing there, with the weight of everything pressing gently against my ribs, I couldn’t ignore it anymore.

Love hadn’t scared me because it was uncertain. It had scared me because it felt real.

The memory of that week by the lake tugged at me, quiet, and insistent.