Page 165 of Be My Wife

My heart has a different answer.

A big and terrifying ‘yes’.

Thirty-Three

Brogan

Steph’s speech is stuck in my head. It’s bothering me—the thought that Elizabeth might have given me her heart sometime during the relationship and I missed it.

What if you’re just being delusional?

Fear keeps trying to back me into a corner.

Keeps slugging up the past.

Remember Lana? Remember how much her betrayal hurt?

I do remember.

Every time I look at my scarred hands, I remember.

Every time I see a flame, I remember.

It’s emblazoned into me.

Like a cow getting branded.

That pain.

That rejection.

But this time is different.

I can’t block out the hole in my chest with resentment.

I can’t fill it with bitterness.

It’s too wide.

Too deep.

Too much.

The only one who can fill that hole is Elizabeth.

She’s in my mind.

She’s the fire inside my heart.

It’s still blazing.

Still waiting for her.

I’m still trapped inside, unable to breathe.

Hoping to clear my head, I leave Steph with Ina and jog to the café across the street for some proper java. Once I step inside, my eyes go straight to the table where Elizabeth and I last spoke.

I can see her now.

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