Page 43 of Second Chance with the Half-Elf

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“Love doesn’t always knock.

Sometimes it waits at the shoreline

Building driftwood altars from all our wreckage.”

The crowd leans in.

I feel like I’m falling sideways.

“Sometimes,

Even when we break it,

It stays.”

Applause erupts.

I can’t move.

I want to scream. To run. To fall into Aeron’s arms and apologize and kiss him until all the regret burns away.

Instead, I walk. Fast.

Down the dock. Past the lantern-lit shops. Past the mural we painted as kids. Past the bakery that still smells like cinnamon and grief.

I find him sitting near the water, alone, just like always.

He doesn’t look surprised to see me.

“Didn’t think you’d come,” he says, quiet.

“I didn’t plan to.”

We sit in silence, the tide lapping against the pylons like a heartbeat. A gull cries overhead. Somewhere down the dock, a string of lights flickers out with a soft pop.

I open my mouth.

Close it.

Try again.

“I…”

The words won’t come.

He turns to me slowly, something flickering in his eyes—hope, maybe. Or just the memory of it.

“Say it,” he murmurs.

But I can’t.

So I don’t.

And the waves keep whispering what I’m too scared to say.

CHAPTER 16

AERON

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