“And that’s why I’m so mad!” she shouted, voice breaking. “Because I do love you. And now I don’t know what’s real!”
The silence that followed was huge.
Grant looked down, like he knew he’d walked into something sacred and messy.
Miranda wiped her face angrily. “I’m going to college in two months,” she said, voice thick. “I was going to leave anyway. But now… now I’m not leaving like this.”
I swallowed hard. “Like what?”
“Like I owe you my whole life,” she said. “Like I can never question you. Like you’re the only person I’m allowed to belong to.”
My knees felt weak. I sat back down on the bed because standing felt like pretending I had strength I didn’t.
Miranda drew in a shaky breath. “Grant has an apartment in the city. Near campus. He offered to let me stay there until school starts. To… get to know him. To figure things out.”
And there it was. The real meaning of her words.
Pack your things.
Not because she wanted to throw me out into the street—because she was moving me out of her heart in a way that required distance.
