I reached for the documents.
“Your mother needs to speak with her lawyer. Don’t sign anything until you’ve received independent legal advice.”
Jake nodded.
“And you need to leave tomorrow as planned. You need space to start college and build a life that doesn’t revolve around this house.”
He wiped his eyes.
“Do you think we’ll ever be able to look at each other without remembering what happened?”
I thought about that question.
“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “But remembering something doesn’t mean we have to keep repeating it.”
He nodded.
For the first time in days, there was no suggestion of romance in the room.
Only regret.
Only the painful recognition that we had both been looking for something we didn’t know how to ask for properly.
And now we had to face the consequences.
The Morning Everything Finally Changed
Tom drove Jake to the airport the following morning.
