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How could she have shifted the blame onto her parents for that? Maybe
she wasn’t just scared of what they and everyone else would think of her.
Maybe she was truly just scared to be herself. To try to figure out what that
meant. Maybe she was being too hard on herself. She wasn’t pointing
fingers, but she hadn’t really thought, until she met Romi, that she was
purposely holding herself back. She was afraid to feel. To love. To truly
experience. She was afraid she’d be hurt. Cut down. Rejected. She let those
fears dominate her and overrule everything else.
When her dad stepped back and her mom pulled away just a little, Kiera
dried her eyes and offered them both a real smile. One that wasn’t in any
way contrived or forced or done halfway.
“We would really like to meet this woman you were talking about,” her
mom said. Her voice was soft and her eyes shone. “We truly would. If
things change and she, well…”
Kiera had pretty much told her parents everything about Romi except her
name. She’d told them about how she’d broken up with her because of her
fears. She told them about talking with Wynn too. She told them how much
she wanted to go and try to make things right with Romi.
“Okay.” Kiera reached up and smoothed back her hair. The bun at the to
p
of her head was actually giving her a headache it was so tight. “Thank you.
You have no idea what that means to me.”
Her mom and dad exchanged a look. A look that made Kiera believe love
was possible. It was always so convenient to doubt it. To let herself believe
that things wouldn’t work out. She’d told herself countless times that her
parents were from a different generation, another era, and that people
couldn’t love like that anymore. She’d made herself believe that every
single relationship would eventually crumble. She’d let herself live in fear
of becoming attached to another person because she was so afraid that her
heart would be broken eventually.
