No, I didn’t need him. If anyone taught me that, it was him.
I wanted him.
I wanted his arms and his love and his comfort.
I wanted to believe him.
I just wish he was there to convince me. To tell me it was all a mistake. I’d listen. I’d believe him if he’d at least try.
But he was gone, and I fell to the couch, defeated. My muscles ached from the week I’d put it through. I wanted his warmth by my side, and instead, I was alone.
More tears burned the backs of my eyes as my chest squeezed too tight, and I buried my head in my hands, too tired to hold it up. I’d thought he’d come for me, to fight for me. But he hadn’t.
He was gone.
“Is this seat taken?”
28
Hanna
The light shined through the window, illuminating his eyes, bright like the sky, softened with a smile.
“You’re here,” I breathed.
“Where else would I be?”
It’d been a week, but it might as well have been a year for how much I missed his voice. It washed over me, easing the muscles that had tightened with each second I thought he’d left me.
“I—” I swallowed past the lump working its way up my throat. Between the confession and seeing him, my emotions were on edge. “I don’t know. I just…I guess I thought you left.”
He moved around the edge of the couch and finally sat next to me, so close his leg pressed to mine.
“No, I’m right here, Hanna. Always here.”
I fought the urge to close what little space stretched between us and sink into his arms. But then I remembered why I hadn’t seen him, and the joy tainted with the hurt that had been lingering since the last time I’d seen him.
Sabrina.
That, and he hadn’t reached out to even try to convince me I was wrong. Maybe he didn’t want to.
“You haven’t been all week,” I said, sitting tall and inching back.
He dragged a hand through his hair and winced. “Because I’m a dumbass. I convinced myself I couldn’t fix this and that I wasn’t good enough.” He bent his head, waiting for me to meet his gaze. It pleaded with me to listen—to understand. “Hanna, I have no clue what I’m doing.”
I huffed a laugh. “I don’t want to shock you, but neither do I.”
Daniel’s hand crept closer, giving me plenty of time to pull away. But if I was being honest with myself, I didn’t want to. No matter the outcome. So, when his rough calluses scraped across the soft top of my hand, I turned to link our fingers.
“What are you doing here, Daniel?” I whispered, scared to break the moment. “How did you know?”
“How? Erik. Why?” He used his free hand to tip my chin up. “Because I wasn’t going to miss you being the bravest woman I’ve ever met.”
Tears glazed my eyes, and I shook my head, swallowing them back down. “I’m not.”
“You are,” he said fiercely. “Hanna…I’m sorry. I—”
“I just need to know,” I cut him off. “Was it real? Any of it? Did you see me at all?”
His hand abandoned mine, and I almost cried out at the loss, but before I could, both hands framed my face. “You are all I see. Jesus, you’re all I’ve seen since we met. You steal my attention whenever you walk into a room.”
“Then, why?” I pleaded. “Why did you say her name? Why did you call me that if I’m all you see?”
His jaw clenched, and his eyes bounced between mine, tinged with panic that maybe he couldn’t fix this.
“Because I was scared. So fucking scared. The last woman who loved me left her mark, and I just got swept up in the old feelings that had swallowed me as a teen. It pulled me back, and I felt like history was repeating itself. I was terrified of what you loving me meant for you. What if I couldn’t be enough? What if I hurt you too much and I—I don’t know. Because I know you’re a strong woman. I know you don’t need me, and you’d be fine without me. I know that. But fear doesn’t care what you know. And before I knew it, I was pushing you away, and I’m so sorry.”
I reached up to grip his wrists, just to touch him. “Daniel, you did help me. You taught me how to face the things I’d been hiding from. You pushed me in a way that I needed. You made me strong.”
“You