But we would face those things together.
The curtains remained open.
Not to prove anything to Delaney.
Not to invite the neighbors to watch.
But because I no longer needed to hide from a world that had once convinced me I should be ashamed of loving someone.
The affair Delaney had accused us of never happened when she first imagined it.
The love she feared, however, became real.
And when Caleb and I finally chose each other, we did not do it to win a fight.
We did it because we were ready to build a life that belonged to us.
Sometimes, the truth saves your reputation. Sometimes, it changes your entire future. And sometimes, the people who try to destroy your happiness teach you that the only permission you ever needed was your own.
