Page 80 of Saddle and Scent
Rage that they made that choice without telling me.
Terror that someone in this town wanted me dead badly enough to orchestrate an elaborate murder attempt.
Heartbreak that we lost ten years to fear and miscommunication and the kind of protectiveinstincts that destroy the thing they're trying to save.
The worst part is understanding, finally, why they did what they did.
Because if someone I loved was being threatened…if someone was trying to hurt them…I would probably make the same choice.
I would probably choose their safety over my own happiness.
I would probably break my own heart if it meant keeping theirs beating.
But that doesn't make it right.
And it doesn't make the last ten years hurt any less.
It just makes everything more complicated.
Heartbreaking.
Impossible to navigate.
Because how do you rebuild something that was destroyed by love instead of indifference?
How do you forgive a choice that was made from the right intentions but with the wrong methods?
To move forward when the past is finally making sense but the future is more uncertain than ever?
How do you trust again when the people you trusted most kept the most important secret of all?
I don't know.
I don't know anything anymore.
Except that I'm tired of pretending to be asleep.
Tired of listening to my life being discussed like I'm not here.
Exhausted of being protected from truths I have a right to know.
Drained of carrying pain that was never supposed to be mine alone.
It's time to wake up.
It's time to face whatever comes next.
Even if it breaks me all over again.
14
FACING THE MUSIC
~CALLUM~
"You should have this conversation with Juniper and stop playing this unnecessary game of suffering to protect her."
The doctor's words hang in the air like a challenge, cutting through the heavy silence that's settled over the room since my revelation about the threats. Her tone is matter-of-fact, professional, but there's an underlying current of exasperation that suggests she's dealt with this exact scenario more times than she cares to count.
