Chapter 88

I looked over at him. Saw the serious expression of his face. “What?”

“I love him,” he said almost inaudibly.

I let the words find a way inside me. They were like tiny heated blades cutting microscopic holes into my heart. I wasn’t sad or jealous. Just scared. But not scared enough to run away.

“And not-not in the sa-ame way that I love you, Nick. In a different way. It’s-it’s new. It’s a newpart of me that loves him, and I think I need to let that part of me emerge or I want to—”

“Hey.” I squeezed his hand, feeling calmer. Solid. “We’ll love him together. Okay? I’ll make that choice. I hadn’t made it until now. I think I was just kind of coasting along, waiting to see where the chips would fall. And that sucks. That’s not right.”

“You’re more pragmatic than I am.”

“I’m not. Just better at hiding my feelings.”