Page 120 of Meet Me in the Valley
“It’s not because he hurt me.” Her voice falters. She swallows hard, gaze drifting to the window like she’s searching for something—or someone—just out of reach. “It’s because I loved him.”
The words are quiet, but they land with the force of something long-buried, finally clawing its way free.
Her confession unravels something inside me. Something tender and fragile.
And suddenly, I think of Logan—how deep that ache runs, how far the yearning reaches.
I sit there, fingers still gently wrapped around Nora’s as Cali’s laughter bubbles up from across the diner, bright and oblivious. I swallow the lump rising in my throat and tread carefully.
“Where is he?”
Nora doesn’t look at me. A single tear slips from the corner of her eye, but she wipes it away before it fully falls.
Her answer comes soft. Guarded. “He’s not around.” That’s all she says.
But something in her voice, and in the way she doesn’t say more, tells me the truth is heavier than I know.
Call it the sister sync, but it’s clear to me she’s done with this topic. I let everything she shared with me breathe, lingering in the air between us with no tension—no resentment. It’s enough, and more than I could ask for.
“I’m really sorry for the way I reacted last time, Tia. When you brought up Cali’s dad, it triggered something ugly in me. I honestly can’t believe I acted the way I did. You came all the way to find me, and I fucked up.”
Understanding passes between us as her apology hits me hard in the chest. The Nora I know reveals herself, slowly shedding the foreign shell she’s enveloped herself in since the night she left. Healing is happening before me, little by little.
“I’m sorry, too,” I whisper.
A small smile pulls at her lips, and she dabs under her eyes with her napkin. Then, like a breath of levity drifting in after a storm, she glances sideways at me.
“If it weren’t for Logan, I don’t think I would’ve come back.”
I blink. “Logan?”
She nods, slower this time. “He came to see me the day after you left.”
Oh my God. Is this why he stayed another day?
“When he showed up out of nowhere, I was ready for him to rip me a new one about Hanny. But he didn’t even mention her once. He told me about everything you were carrying. How much you’ve done for our family …” she softens her voice, “How it killed him to see you hurting.”
I sit back, stunned. Tingles skitter down my spine, then spread throughout the rest of my body.
“He didn’t tell me that.”
“I don’t think he wanted credit, but he meant it, Tia. Every word. You should’ve seen him. He showed up with this quiet fire in his eyes, like he wasn’t leaving until I’d hear him out.”
My throat tightens. I don’t know what to say. Without a doubt, Logan has always had my back. But hearing his conviction through someone else’s eyes sets off fireworks—bright, loud, and full of color.
Nora gives me a small smile, letting go of my hands to sip her water.
“You’ve got a good one, you know? He’s not perfect, but that man sees you. Like,reallysees you.”
The words settle deep, pressing right into that soft, aching part of me I’ve tried so hard to push aside.
“Well… he’s not really mine. Not anymore. I know you told Lucas I was taken—but I’m not.”
Nora lifts an eyebrow. “Yeah, well. He said he fucked up bad. That you left. I figured that’s why you showed up at my door with a suitcase and no explanation.”
I let out a dry, humorless laugh, fingers twisting the paper from my straw into a tight, anxious knot. Like the one in my chest whenever I think of him.
“I ended it,” I admit, my voice barely above a whisper. “Not because I wanted to. But everything with you, with Mom? It was all too much. I couldn’t juggle it and still hold on to Logan. He’s meant so much to me for so long. I was scared if I didn’t let go, I’d lose him in a way I couldn’t come back from.”
