“I… I didn’t think a day would go by that I wouldn’t…” His voice faltered, caught in the memory of empty beds, cold rooms, and the echo of laughter that wasn’t hers. “I almost called you, so many times. Almost drove back just to… to see if you were okay. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. I thought… I thought maybe you’d moved on. Thought you might hate me for leaving.”
Harmony’s fingers clutched his shirt, tiny trembles running up her arm. “Axel…” she whispered, but he shook his head slightly, the emotion brimming just beneath his calm facade.
“I wanted to—no, I needed to—tell you how much it hurt not to be there,” he admitted, his chest rising with each heavy breath. “But every time I tried, I froze. Every time I imagined your face, your eyes, I…” He swallowed hard, the words scraping past his
