Page 260 of Tell Me Something True

That they’d protected them from those parts.

They’d made it look effortless so for a long time, Miles had thought that was what any successful relationship he had should be.

He’d thought love was all you needed. That it alone was enough.

The last six months had proved him wrong.

Again. And again. And again.

Real kick in the balls, that.

But the pain was worth it.

With the help of Abbie—his personal therapist who he saw weekly—and Kaitlyn—the couples’ therapist he and Tabitha went to every other week—he now knew being in a relationship, staying in one, was a hell of a lot of work.

You had to learn what to compromise on and when to stand your ground. How to set boundaries, both personally and within your relationship. And with Kaitlyn’s help, they were slowly learning how to rebuild trust.

But the most important lesson they’d both learned was that you had to choose your person. Every day.

That was why Miles truly believed he and Tabitha were going to make this work this time. They chose each other, day in and day out.

They still had plenty of things to discuss. So many more stories and secrets to share. So many past hurts to get over. They both still had healing to do. Both still struggled with trust issues.

But they didn’t let those issues take over. Didn’t give into them. No matter how many times their fears crept in, or they both fell back into old patterns, they chose to stay. To work through them together. They fought for each other and their relationship.

And they were winning.

He’d told each member of his family individually about his anxiety and his guilt over their parents’ accident and while all their assurances that they didn’t blame him helped to ease that guilt, it wasn’t gone completely. But with the help of Abbie, it was getting better. And he was having fewer and fewer anxiety attacks thanks to her teaching him how to keep his nervous system as regulated as possible. He’d started running again, which helped, as did making time for things he enjoyed like joining the local basketball rec league.

Tabitha had gone back to therapy, too, choosing to see one of her previous therapists in Pittsburgh via video call twice a month, working to heal the trauma of her childhood and the wounds that had been reopened. Learning how to navigate her new relationship with the brother she hadn’t known about and how to move forward now that she knew her mother was alive.

And lived only a few miles away.

He was adding another ladle of broth to the risotto when the back door opened and Tabitha stepped in.

“Hey,” she said, stomping snow from her knee-high, stacked heel, gray boots. Reaching down to unzip them, she sent him a bright smile. “It smells fantastic in here.”

“Thought we’d stay in for dinner instead of battling the crowds. That okay?”

Her grin widened, her eyes going soft. Grateful. “Perfect.”

He’d told her he had a surprise for her for Valentine’s Day, and he’d known she’d been nervous about it. Probably because the only other time they’d celebrated Valentine’s Day together, back in Pittsburgh, he’d gone all out.

A dozen red roses sent to her at the café where she worked; gourmet chocolates and a stuffed bear the size of a four-year-old child when she got home. Then he’d taken her to dinner at a fancy restaurant on Mt. Washington, overlooking the rivers and the city.

And although she hadn’t complained, he could tell she’d hated it.

He’d wanted to make their first Valentine’s Day memorable. Wanted to show her how much she meant to him.

Had wanted to impress the girl he’d fallen so hard for, but yet again, he’d gone overboard. Had done too much. Tried too hard. And she’d spent the entire evening stiff and tense and uncomfortable.

Luckily, another thing he was learning about himself was that he could change.

And one thing he was learning was that all it took to make his girl happy was to pay attention to what she liked.

Which was spending time with his family or her growing circle of friends—Willow and Hayden and Colette, Greer’s older sister who moved back to town at Christmas time—yoga, and baking more.

But what she liked most was when it was just him and her. Cooking together or snuggled on the couch binge watching a show or catching up on paperwork on their laptops.

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