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The corner of his mouth moves, and the tiny, almost-smile gives me enough room to breathe again as I open my hand. The amethyst ring still sits in my palm, the deep purple stone catching the light as I trace the familiar setting with my thumb before looking back at him.

“My mom gave me this before she died. I was eight. Dad hung on to it until I was old enough for it to fit. She wore it every day until the day she gave it to me.” My fingers curl protectively around the ring before I force them open again. “And I’ve worn it almost every day since.”

“Calliope…” Jubal’s jaw tightens as he drags a hand slowly over the back of his neck.

“That night…” I struggle for the right words because explaining what he gave me feels dangerously close to admitting how much I’ve thought about it since. “Everyone in my life knows what this ring means. They know about Mom. They know about school and the MCAT and everything I was supposed to be doing by now.”

Jubal stays quiet, giving me the same thing he gave me in Houston without seeming to realize he’s doing it again.

“You didn’t know any of that until I chose to tell you.” I slide the ring onto my finger, twisting it gently over my knuckle until it settles into the familiar place it has occupied for most of my life. “You didn’t ask questions because you thought you were entitled to the answers or try to convince me I should feel differently about anything. You just…let me be there. And that mattered.”

“You matter to me too.”

My thumb stops against the stone. He doesn’t soften it with a joke or look away after saying it, leaving me nowhere to put the words except beside everything I’ve been trying to convince myself belonged in Houston.

“I shouldn’t have left like that.”

“No, you probably shouldn’t have,” he says, his voice quieter than before. “I woke up reaching for you.”

For a moment, all I can see is the empty side of his bed, the way I left it that morning, except now I have to imagine him waking up and reaching into that space, expecting to find me there. My fingers close around the ring as Jubal looks past me, his jaw shifting before he continues.

“You were gone, and there was nothing except that ring sitting on the floor next to the nightstand to remind me that any of it happened.”

“We agreed it was one night. I thought leaving before you woke up would make it easier.”

“For who?”

My mouth opens, but I don’t know what to say. I’d been so certain daylight would make everything complicated. If he asked me to stay or wanted my number, I’d have to decide what came next when I couldn’t handle one more decision. But the other possibility scared me even more. He could’ve smiled and let me walk away.

“I don’t know. I think I told myself it would be easier for both of us because that sounded better than admitting I didn’t want to find out what happened in the morning.”

“What did you think was going to happen?”

“I didn’t know.” I let out a breath that trembles despite my attempt to control it. “Maybe you’d wake up and whatever we had the night before would feel different. Maybe you’d ask for my number, and suddenly we’d have to decide whether one night was still supposed to be one night.”

I pause, but I’ve already admitted too much to stop now.

“Or maybe you wouldn’t ask, and I didn’t want to know which one it was.”

“I wasn’t going to ask you to stay. I knew what the night was, Calliope. I wasn’t waking up expecting breakfast and a five-year plan.” The faintest trace of humor touches his mouth before disappearing again. “I just would’ve liked the chance to say goodbye.”

I flinch slightly as he finishes speaking. I’d been so busy protecting the night from becoming something complicated that I never considered what leaving without a word might turn it into for him.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to make you feel like it didn’t matter.”

“I know that now.”

I close my eyes briefly and let myself sit with that instead of rushing to explain it away.

“When Dad asked if we knew each other, I did it again, didn’t I? I panicked, so I left before I had to deal with it. This time I did it with just one word.”

His mouth twitches, but he doesn’t let me turn it into a joke. “I didn’t think you were trying to erase me.”

“You looked like you did.”

“For about five seconds, yeah. But then I realized you were standing in front of your father.”

“That doesn’t make it okay.”