It’s getting worse m!
405 Words
Chapter 17: The Quiet Before the Storm
After Caleb stepped back, everything became quieter.
Not easier.
Quieter.
There is a difference.
The silence made room for thought, and thought made room for all the things I had refused to admit. I missed Caleb. I missed the security of his love, the familiarity of his voice, the way we had once imagined forever without fear. But I also found myself thinking about Jordan with a kind of intensity that no longer felt optional.
I was becoming the kind of person who could not exist comfortably in a simple answer.
Smolly found me sitting alone one evening, staring at nothing in particular.
“You’re going through it,” she said.
I sighed. “That is an understatement.”
She sat beside me. “Are you relieved?”
That question surprised me.
I thought about it for a long moment before answering. “No. Sad. Guilty. Confused. Maybe relieved in a tiny way, but not enough to call it relief.”
Smolly nodded. “That’s honest.”
I looked at her. “You say that like honesty is a special achievement.”
“It is, in your situation.”
I let out a tired laugh.
Then I grew quiet again.
Smolly glanced at me. “And Jordan?”
I closed my eyes briefly. “He’s still there.”
“Is that a problem?”
I thought about it. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because every time I think I’ve settled one feeling, another one becomes louder.”
Smolly studied me, then said, “Then maybe this isn’t about choosing fast. Maybe it’s about choosing truth.”
I leaned back against the chair and stared at the ceiling.
Truth.
That word again.
It had become the thing I could not escape. The thing at the center of everything. The thing I had delayed too long and now had to face.
That night, I received a message from Jordan asking to see me.
I looked at it for a long time before answering.
When I finally said yes, I already knew the next meeting would not be casual. It would not be small talk, and it would not be ordinary. It would be one of those moments that changes the direction of a story even before anyone says it out loud.
Because the storm had been building for a long time.
And now I could feel it coming.
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