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I give her a pointed look. She knows exactly what I’m talking about. I can’t understand why anyone with such a strong will and so much passion would allow another person to hold them back. Or how you could supposedly love someone and clip their wings.
“Xander loved me.” The hurt laced behind her furious tone causes my stomach to knot with guilt. “He was looking out for me. He knew me better than anyone else. Definitely better than you.”
“I’m not disputing that, Lizzy.” I pause for a moment to check myself, taking a deep breath to cool down the heat in my veins. This is shaky ground, and the last thing I want to do is push her away. “Look, I’m only trying to encourage you to fly.”
“And implying that Xander kept me grounded. As if that’s a bad thing,” she seethes, a hand on her hip. “You don’t know the first thing about love.”
“Maybe you’re right,” I concede, nodding as I scratch at my beard. “But it seems to me the person you love, your better half, should encourage you to step outside of your comfort zone. He let you settle for taking the safe path instead of pushing you to go after everything you wanted. And where did that get you? You’re still in your small hometown working a job you hate, making lists for someday.”
Lizzy’s face is red, her features screwed together in a scowl. I went too far, said too much. But I wouldn’t take it back if I could. She needed to hear the truth.
“Go to hell, Brenden. You’ve known me all of two seconds. Suddenly you think you’re the expert on what’s best for me? Do you actually believe your opinion matters?” she mocks, pushing me back as she steps forward. “You want to talk about facing your fears, but you’re too afraid to put yourself out there. You’ve never let yourself feel anything real for anyone. You should worry about figuring out your own shit instead of trying to fix me.”
Her words are said out of spite, but that doesn’t make them any less true. I’ve scoffed at the idea of being in love for most of my life. Now, here I am, falling for someone who isn’t emotionally available.
My heart sinks as I watch her storm out of the room. This isn’t how I wanted today to go.
She has every right to be upset with me. It’s not my place to say anything about Xander or their relationship, despite my good intentions.
I seriously screwed this up.
