He sounds like he means it. But that isn’t enough to stop me from shaking my head because it isn’t true. I know it isn’t true. I’m ordinary. I’m plain. The only thing special about me is what I am and what I can do.
He lifts his head, and his brow creases in a frown. “You don’t believe me.”
“You don’t have to tell me that,” I tell him, as if what I’m saying doesn’t matter. As if I don’t care what he thinks of me. “I know I’m not.”
He stares into my face for so long that I start wishing I was somewhere else—that I was someone else—because this is the moment that he’s finally seeing me the way Shane sees me: worthless. This is regret I’m witnessing. This is Mack trying to find a way to let me down gently.
I open my mouth, ready to tell him that it’s okay, I’m used to it. But he speaks be
