Page 114 of Safe Place

She nods, but tears spill over anyway, and then she's up and around the counter and pulling me into a hug so tight I can feel how much she means it. I hug her back, and I think…this is what it’s supposed to feel like. This is what I didn't know I was missing.

We stay like that for a while. Then we separate and she wipes her face and laughs at herself a little.

“Okay,” she says, sniffling. “I'm crying and your pancakes are going cold and that feels wrong.”

I laugh, holding back my own tears. “Do you want more syrup?”

We eat together in the quiet warmth of the kitchen, and I think about how strange and lucky I was that a roommate listing on a housing board turned into this. Into her.

I never thought I'd have a friend like Poppy. I didn't think I had room for one.

THIRTY-TWO

I can't believe you're all mine

MICAH

Sophie brings out a protectiveness in me I didn’t even know I had. Maybe I just never had anyone to protect. Maybe there was nothing I truly wanted—until her. Before Sophie, I was basically running on autopilot. Doing well in school, being the perfect son, living up to the Vale name. Going through the motions. Hooking up with girls just for fun, with no meaning.

But the day I met her, everything changed. She changed me. Suddenly, I had a reason. A reason to care about more than legacy and performance. A reason to want the future I’ve always been told I’m supposed to want.

Sophie gave my life purpose. It’s not just a routine anymore. It’s unpredictable. Real. Like waking up next to the most beautiful girl on the planet—I’ll never get used to that.

This morning, she made us breakfast, and holy shit, she can cook. She said it's because she's been taking care of herself since she was a kid, and yeah, that probably has something to do with it. But honestly, I think it's because there's nothing this girl can't do.

I'm slipping my shoes on by the front door when I hear her behind me. “Where are you going?”

I turn. For a second, the old instinct kicks in—I'll handle it, don't worry, just trust me. I know exactly what I'd have said a month ago. I'd have been gone before she even woke up.

But we're past that.

“I'm going to Silver Pine,” I say. The place her stepfather is staying. “I need to make sure there's absolutely no chance of him ever coming near you again.” I pause. “But I want your permission first. If that's okay with you?”

She lets out a breath, almost like she didn't realize she'd been holding it. “Thank you,” she says softly. “For asking me this time.”

“Yeah.” I hold her gaze. “I’m sorry it took so long.”

She looks at me, quiet. Then, “What are you going to do?”

“I'm going to take care of it,” I tell her. “Make sure he goes back to Illinois and never shows up in front of you again.”

She looks at me for a long moment.

“I want to come.”

“You want to—what?”

She nods. “I'll be safe if you're with me. And I want to be there. When it ends. For good.”

“Are you sure?” I search her face. She's scared, but she's also determined.

“I'm sure. As long as you're with me.”

We drive out to the Silver Pine Inn just as the sky starts to dim. It’s exactly what I pictured—an old, run-down roadside motel off the highway, with a neon sign flickering above the office.

I park in front of Room 12 and knock.

The door opens. A woman stands in the frame. Her features look like Sophie’s, only worn down, lifeless. Rougher. Greyer. She looks at me, then at Sophie. “Sophie, dear. I was going to go see you with Mark today.”