Page 52 of Beautifully Broken
She didn’t speak right away, and I didn’t fill the silence. I let it stretch between us, let it say everything I couldn’t.
“I didn’t expect it,” she said finally. “The kiss.”
“I didn’t either.”
Her brows lifted, skeptical.
“I mean—I didn’t plan it,” I clarified. “I saw you, and you looked… God, Em, you looked like you’d always belonged to me. And something cracked open in me, and before I could think, I was kissing you like I meant it. Because I did.”
She stood then. Walked to the edge of the porch, arms crossed over her chest. “So why’d you run?”
I stepped closer. Not all the way, not yet. “Because it scared the hell out of me. Because it felt real. Too real. And because I didn’t want it to be some fluke or some drunken mistake that ruined what we have.”
Emily didn’t answer, but she didn’t look away.
“I’ve been trying to live with ghosts,” I said, voice thick. “Waking up with guilt in my throat and going to bed with regrets on my chest. And for a long time, I thought if I loved you, I’d be betraying her. But lately, I’ve been thinking maybe the real betrayal is staying stuck. Maybe the most honest thing I can do is live.”
Her mouth parted, just a little. Like she was about to speak, but the words got lost somewhere in her ribs.
“I’m not over Hannah,” I said. “I don’t think I ever will be. But I think she’d want this. She’d want me to love again. To be happy.”
I climbed the steps, slowly, letting her stop me if she wanted to. She didn’t.
“I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, Em. But I know I want to try. With you. If you’ll let me.”
Her arms were still crossed, but her eyes had gone soft. Shiny.
I stepped closer. “Say something. Please.”
She stared at me for a beat, then whispered, “I’ve been waiting for you to come.”
And that was it.
I reached for her, and she melted into me like she belonged there. My hands cupped her face, my thumbs catching the tear that slid down her cheek. Her lips were warm and soft and familiar in a way that had nothing to do with the past and everything to do with right now.
I kissed her slow. Deep. Like I had all the time in the world to get it right this time.
And maybe I did.
Because this time, I wasn’t walking away. I was living.
