Undetermined

Wounds reopened (continuation)

As Emma’s words hung in the air, Jack didn’t respond immediately. He just stared at her back, the tension between them like an unspoken weight neither of them was sure how to lift. For a moment, there was only the soft hum of the café and the distant sound of city traffic.

Then, Jack stood. It wasn’t a dramatic gesture, just a slow, deliberate rise from his seat. He had come for answers, but now it seemed that the only thing left was time. And Emma wasn’t ready to give him that. Not yet.

Without a word, he reached for his jacket and draped it over his arm.

“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice quiet but thick with regret. “I didn’t want to leave you with all of this. I never wanted you to feel abandoned.”

Emma didn’t respond. She didn’t know what to say.

He took one last look at her before turning to leave. As the door jingled behind him, the weight of his departure pressed down on her. She didn’t know what she had hoped for—an apology, an explanation, some piece of him that she could recognize—but nothing in that conversation had given her any sense of closure.

She wanted to be angry. She wanted to shout at him, to demand answers. But she couldn’t. The silence was too thick, too heavy to break. Instead, she sat back down, her head in her hands.

Back at the office, Lila could tell something had changed in Emma’s mood the moment she walked through the door. Emma was usually quick with a smile, even on the worst days, but today, her face was a mask—stiff, unreadable.

“Okay, spill it,” Lila said, tossing a packet of papers onto Emma’s desk.

Emma stared at the papers, her thoughts elsewhere. She didn’t want to talk about Jack. Not yet.

“Emma,” Lila pressed, crossing her arms. “You can’t avoid this. Did he—”

Emma cut her off with a shake of her head. “He left. And it’s like he never even came back.”

Lila frowned, pulling up a chair and sitting beside Emma. “What does that mean?”

“It means I don’t know what to feel anymore,” Emma said, her voice tight with suppressed emotion. “He said things… but I don’t know if I can believe him.”

Lila’s eyes softened with understanding, though she didn’t say anything. She just waited, letting Emma work through the jumble of thoughts.

“I thought I was over it. Over him,” Emma continued, her fingers nervously tapping the edge of the desk. “But the moment I saw him again, all the old feelings—everything—came rushing back.”

“Do you want him back?” Lila asked, her voice gentle but direct.

Emma stared at the floor, the question hanging in the air. “I don’t know.”

Lila let out a sigh, leaning back in her chair. “It’s okay to not know. But, you have to make sure you’re doing this for the right reasons, Emma. Not because he’s giving you breadcrumbs of closure or guilt-tripping you into something you’re not ready for.”

Emma nodded slowly. “I know. But it’s not that simple. If he really does care—if he’s really changed—then maybe I owe him the chance to show me. But I don’t know if I can trust him again.”

Lila didn’t offer more advice. Sometimes, words didn’t help in these situations. Sometimes, all a person needed was time.

Meanwhile, Jack found himself standing outside the building, his mind replaying every word he’d said to Emma. Nothing about that conversation had gone the way he’d imagined. He thought he had prepared himself for every possible outcome, but nothing had prepared him for the coldness in her voice.

Ava was already waiting for him by the car, her arms crossed as she watched him approach.

“Well?” she asked, her tone expectant but weary.

Jack slid into the passenger seat without responding. The silence stretched between them, thick and suffocating.

“You’re not getting off that easy,” Ava said, her voice sharper now. “Tell me. What happened?”

Jack closed his eyes, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t know what I expected. I thought if I just told her the truth, everything would click into place. But it didn’t.”

Ava sighed, leaning her head against the window. “What did you think would happen, Jack? You disappeared for years. People don’t just pick up where they left off.”

He didn’t answer. He didn’t know what to say. Ava was right, but that didn’t make the reality any easier to swallow.

“I can’t give up,” he said finally, his voice raw. “I can’t leave it like this.”

“Then you have to be patient,” Ava replied, her voice softer now. “If she’s meant to be a part of your life again, she’ll find her way back to you. But you can’t force it. Not this time.”

Jack turned to face her, his expression serious. “What if she doesn’t come back? What if she’s already moved on?”

Ava didn’t answer. Instead, she started the car and pulled away, leaving the question hanging between them like an unspoken truth.

——————

Back in Emma’s apartment that evening, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something—someone—was missing. Milo curled up at her feet, content in his own world, but Emma couldn’t settle. Her mind kept returning to Jack’s words, to the way he had looked at her, as if hoping for something she couldn’t give.

She stood, pacing in her small living room, when her phone buzzed.

It was a message from Ethan.

Ethan: “Hey, you up for grabbing dinner? I’m sick of writing about heartbreak and need a distraction.”

Emma stared at the screen for a moment before typing back, “Sure. Let’s go.”

She needed to clear her mind, to get away from the questions that had no answers. And maybe, just maybe, Ethan’s presence would help her find some sense of clarity.