Page 92 of Click of Fate

Luke.

He’s standing in front of his photo like it’s a puzzle he’s been trying to solve.

He hasn’t moved.

One hand is tucked into his pocket. The other runs through his hair, fingers pausing like they’re anchoring him to the moment. His body is still, too still. I feel it from here—the tension, the weight. The way he’s holding himself upright like the floor might shift beneath him at any second.

And despite the hundred conversations I’ve had with myself about how this could go, none of them prepared me for the sight of him. I thought I had more time to prepare for this.

It hits me in a way that nearly knocks me off-balance.

God, I missed him.

I linger at the edge of the doorway, hand on the frame, watching him watch my work—watchingus, before we ever even knew what we were building.

His voice breaks the silence—low, steady, without turning.

“I found it.”

My throat tightens. “You found it,” I whisper back.

He still doesn’t turn. “It found me.” Another beat passes before I step farther into the room.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” I say.

Luke’s shoulders rise slightly with a breath. Finally, he turns. His eyes find mine. They’re guarded. Not cold. But not open and ready to forget, either.

Not yet. So I do the thing I came here to do. I open myself first.

“I told you I don’t do relationships. What I didn’t tell you was why.” I exhale, fingers curling around the strap of my camera bag. “My dad... he thought love was a spark, not a flame. He fell hard and fast. And then he’d fall again—every time something shinier came along. I stopped counting the marriages after number three.”

Luke doesn’t interrupt. He listens.Reallylistens. And it only makes the truth spill faster.

“My mom loved him so much; she never recovered. She’s still stuck in the version of the past that broke her, always rewriting it like maybe one day it’ll change.”

I shake my head. “And Harper? She held onto Lilly’s dad for years, far longer than she should have. Always hoping he’d show up and love her the way she deserved. But he never did.”

I swallow hard.

“And watching all that? It convinced me of one thing: that love either fades or fails.”

Luke’s expression doesn’t shift, but I feel the breath he lets out. Heavy. Real.

“I’ve spent years believing that staying only leads to heartbreak. So I made a rule. Never stay. Never get too close. And then…”

I laugh once, soft and broken. “Then I met you.”

Luke’s eyes flicker.

“And I didn’t just start to believe in love,” I say. “I started to want it.”

The silence between us sharpens.

“I used Claire as an excuse. But the truth is, it wasn’t about her. It was me. I was afraid of what this meant. Whatyoumeant.”

His jaw works, but he doesn’t speak.

“I panicked,” I say simply. “And I broke something I didn’t want to lose.”

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