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“Burke isn’t like my dad,” I said immediately.
“And you’re not your mom,” she countered. “You are your own person, and you don’t take their baggage into your future.”
“Didn’t I, though?”
Daphne tilted her head in understanding, silently waiting for me to continue.
“There’s a reason I never really wanted a relationship. Why all the guys who asked me out had something about them that wasn’t right. I didn’t want to bethem.” I shrugged. “It wasn’t worth the risk.”
Understanding filled her face. “Until him.”
“Isn’t that the ironic part of it?” I managed to smile. “I’ve never fought with anyone like I did with Burke—the very thing I wanted to avoid—and he’s the first one to steal my heart.”
“I think that’s why you worked.”
I laughed. “Oh, come on.”
“I’m serious.” She nudged me with her shoulder. “There’s a reason it wasn’t hard to convince yourself to jump into something with him.”
I gave her a look. “Because I was delusional?”
“No,” she said gently. “You thought he was safe because he was so different than what you expected in a partner. That you’d keep those guards up, even if you ...” She waved her hand in the air.
I waved my hand right back. “Jumped into bed with him after a vulnerable and emotionally taxing weekend?”
She laughed. “You knew, deep down, that you could trust him with that side of you. The one you don’t show to many people.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Whose side are you on?” I asked.
Daphne cupped the sides of my face. “Always yours.”
I shook my head. “You were the one who told me I should go for it with him.”
“I know. Because I saw something between you two.”
“Yeah ... unhealthy coping mechanisms and a massive screaming need for therapy.”
She smiled. “That’s not why I’m saying this. And everyone needs therapy from time to time, honey.”
“Then why?”
“Sometimes that means helping people see the big picture when they’re stuck in the mud of a hurt heart. And, honey, you are still knee deep.”
“Maybe even deeper than that,” I whispered.
“He left, and he was wrong for the way he did,” she said. “But the hurt he caused you doesn’t mean you were wrong too. Your instincts about Burke were good, Charlotte. You were good for each other.”
When she wrapped her arms around me, I let her hold me like my mom would have. And I cried. Because I missed him. And my heart felt even more than hurt. It felt something bigger and scarier than that.
It was still his.
And I had to figure out what I was supposed to do with that.
Chapter Thirty-Four
BURKE
“Holy shit,” my sister breathed.
