That evening, he arrived at my house furious.
“I can’t keep doing this,” he said.
My heart sank.
“Doing what?”
“Letting her dictate every decision we make. Every time we take a step forward, she finds another way to make us defend ourselves.”
I stood beside the kitchen counter.
“What do you want to do?”
He looked at me.
“I want to stop hiding how I feel about you.”
“We haven’t been hiding.”
“Not completely. We still act like we have to ask permission to be happy.”
I wanted to disagree.
Instead, I realized he was right.
We had spent months defending ourselves against an affair that never happened.
We had proved our innocence, restored my professional reputation, and ended our relationships with Delaney’s control over our lives.
Yet we were still frightened of what other people might say.
Caleb stepped closer.
“I love you, Willa. I want a life with you. I want to wake up beside you, come home to you, and build something that belongs to us.”
