CHAPTER TEN: What we bury
974 Words
Leonard was in his office when Amelia walked in without knocking.
He didn’t look up.
“You always did hate boundaries,” he said flatly.
“And you always did run when things got hard,” Amelia replied calmly, closing the door behind her.
That made him look up.
Her expression wasn’t angry.
It was tired.
“I didn’t come here to fight,” she said. “I came because you disappeared on us. Again.”
Leonard leaned back in his chair.
“I didn’t disappear, I've told you countless times.”
“You left,” she corrected. “After Elena died."
His jaw tightened at the name.
Elena.
Two years and it still felt like glass under his skin.
“I buried her,” he said quietly. “That was enough.”
Amelia stepped closer.
“No. It wasn’t.”
Silence.
“I watched you fall apart,” she continued, her voice softer now. “You loved her. We all saw it.”
Leonard’s hands curled into fists under the desk.
“And now?” Amelia pressed gently. “Now there’s someone else.”
His gaze sharpened immediately.
“This isn’t your business.”
“Maybe not,” she admitted. “But I didn’t travel through a snowstorm to watch you build another wall.”
He stood abruptly.
“I am not replacing Elena.”
“I didn’t say you were.”
Her eyes softened.
“But I'm allowed to live, Amelia.”
“Rose isn’t Elena,” Amelia added gently.
Leonard didn’t respond.
But he didn’t deny it either.
Upstairs, Rose stood in front of the mirror.
Her fingers trembled slightly as they hovered over the clasp of her necklace.
Chloe’s words echoed in her head.
Forever ended the day he died.
Rose swallowed hard.
“I’m not letting you go,” she whispered softly. “I just… I don’t know how to carry you anymore.”
Her fingers moved before she could stop herself.
The clasp clicked open.
The weight left her neck.
For a second, she felt exposed. Bare. After five years she was slowly learning to let go....
She stared at her reflection without it.
Her collarbone looked unfamiliar.
Her chest felt lighter.
And that terrified her.
Tears welled in her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, though she didn’t know if she was apologizing to Liam… or herself.
A knock sounded lightly on her door.
She panicked, quickly placing the necklace on the dresser instead of putting it back on.
“Yes?” she called, her voice unsteady.
The door opened.
Leonard stepped in.
His eyes went to her face first.
Then lower.
Then stilled.
The necklace.
Missing.
Silence expanded between them.
He noticed.
“You took it off,” he said quietly.
Rose instinctively crossed her arms slightly.
“It doesn’t mean anything,” she said quickly.
His gaze shifted to the dresser where the pendant lay.
“It means something.”
Her breath caught.
“I just—” She struggled. “I wanted to see what it felt like.”
“And?”
Her eyes shimmered.
“It felt wrong.”
Leonard stepped further into the room, but carefully. As if approaching something fragile.
“Wrong how?”
She let out a shaky breath.
“Like I was betraying him.”
His jaw tightened slightly.
“You think love is a contract that survives death?”
The question startled her.
“I don’t know what I think anymore.”
Her voice cracked.
“I’m scared that if I take it off… if I move forward… then what we had becomes smaller.”
Leonard’s gaze softened in a way she had never seen before.
“That’s not how memory works,” he said quietly.
She searched his face.
“You still think about her, don’t you?” she asked.
He didn’t pretend not to understand.
“Elena?” he said calmly.
“Yes.”
A long pause.
“Yes.”
The honesty in it didn’t hurt the way she expected.
“She was my future,” he continued. “And then she wasn’t.”
Rose’s chest tightened.
“Do you feel guilty?” she asked.
“Every day,” he admitted.
“For wanting to feel something again?”
His silence was answer enough.
Two people. Two graves. Two unfinished futures.
Leonard’s gaze dropped once more to the necklace on the dresser.
“You don’t have to throw it away,” he said.
She frowned slightly "I'm never.."
“But you don’t have to chain yourself to it either.”he answered softly.
Her breath trembled.
“I don’t know how to do this.”
He stepped closer now, slowly.
“You don’t decide forever today,” he said.
“You just decide today.”
Her heart pounded.
“And what if today scares me?”
“It should,” he replied quietly. “It means you’re alive.”
Her eyes filled again.
Without thinking, she reached for the necklace on the dresser.
She held it in her palm. Instead of putting it back on, she closed her fingers around it.
Holding it.
Leonard noticed.
Something shifted in his expression.
Not victory.
Not relief.
Understanding.
“You don’t have to choose between him and me,” he said softly.
Her eyes lifted to his.
“I’m not asking you to forget.”
The vulnerability in his voice did something to her.
He wasn't pressuring her, he didn't want to compete, he was being patient.
And that might have been more dangerous than desire.
Their eyes held.
Closer now.
No storm. No firelight. No interruption.
Just quiet.
Downstairs, Amelia watched Leonard leave Rose’s room from the end of the hallway.
She didn’t look angry. She looked thoughtful.
Maybe it was time to finally let him step forward instead of backward.
And maybe, so was Rose .
- Writer
