They both laughed, and that finally helped Amaris ease the tension she felt in her chest.
“I’m fine.”
“I’m glad you came back,” he added.
She shook her head.
“I didn’t come back to stay. I just came to see my parents.”
Daryl’s expression tightened.
“You can’t go back to that monster.”
For a moment, Amaris didn’t respond. In her mind… a memory surfaced.
The moment of her first time—with that “monster,” as Daryl called him.
It hadn’t been what she feared, and that unsettled her more than she wanted to admit.
“He’s my husband,” she replied. “I have to go back.”
Daryl clenched his jaw.
“At least stay a little longer. Go back with your parents… eat with them. They’ve been suffering for you.”
Amaris hesitated, then turned her head slightly.
In the distance, her parents were still t
