Chapter Fourteen - The Message That Reached Her

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The Message That Reached Her

I DIDN’T TRY to sound okay.
I didn’t try to make it poetic.
I just… spoke.

Text message, 4:36 PM

“Hey. I’m not gonna try and fix it in a paragraph.
You already know I talk better with my eyes than my thumbs.
But I need you to know this.

Last night wasn’t me choosing distance.
It was me being scared you’d see all of me and finally walk.

I was wrong. Not for being scared, but for acting like you couldn’t hold what I never gave you.
You’ve held everything I did give you with more grace than I deserved.

If you don’t come back, I’ll understand.
But if you do, not to reset, not to pretend, but to rebuild, I’m here.
For the whole thing.

You deserve love that doesn’t shut down when it gets hard.
And I want to be that love.”

I hovered over the send button.

My thumb actually shook.
Not from nerves.
From the weight of knowing this message wasn’t about winning her back.

It was about telling the truth, even if it cost me her.

And then I pressed send.

Put the phone down.
Sat on the floor.
And waited for the future to decide what came next.