v

eye. The sun slanted lazily through the cabin windows, warming the kitchen in that golden-hour way that made everyt

ill feel her lips, warm and insistently soft, against mine. She'd woken up, shoved her glasses on, and mumbled something about a morning walk. I didn't stop her. I d

e" exercises. The words blurred into a jumble of motivational fluff: vulnerability is the soil where love grows. I rol

lows arranged in a perfect circle on the cabin floor. Willow, wearing her trademark sparkly scarf and

loud for my current mood, "we're going to open up by

ossible. She'd always been careful-meticulous, controlled, precise. She glanced down at her h

tinued, "vulnerability is

astic, "Uh-huh." The others shot me sympathetic smiles. Maybe t

ous. One man admitted he cried at a commercial about baby goats. Another confessed that he secretly hated his w

our turn.

her ear. "I talk to my plants," she said, voice calm and delibera

irked, more amused than anything else. "Do the

d the circle, a few people snorting like they weren't supposed to. She looked radiant

eyes turn

tening. "I liked candy bars when I was eight," or "I'm terrified of clowns." Anythi

nd something in me wanted her to know... me. The real me. Not the cocky smile, not t

sai

believe

ver so slightly, or maybe it was just m

or. "But someone I loved once... she left. Crush

ake them feel warmer. Silence stretched across the room, soft but

't teasing. She was watching me like she was seeing something

ly, placing a hand over hers. "Sometimes the de

h a wall just fo

behind the cabin, the sun high above us, casting long dappled shadows across the

t. "You really don'

tays." My voice was

de me with her hands shoved into the pockets

forcing the curiosity out

ied some

nce again, two people who had been burned, scarred i

er than we thought," I said, lettin

pathy? Recognition? Or maybe she was measuring the walls around me, the ones I thought w

ch grant, the laughter, the teasing, the stolen glances-it wasn't just a game. Ma

scared the he

e liquid gold. Ivy crouched down, letting her fingers skim the water's surface. I stayed standing, leaning again

e said, tilting he

d, trying not to sound like I was

like this," she said s

her, curious

ble. Honest. Not just a g

lip. "You mean you're disa

ess there that almost undid me. "Not disap

nights I spent replaying memories I could never reclaim. But I didn't. Words li

d, I said

h unspoken possibilities. For the first time, I wondered if maybe pretending, for once, was

rushing. I didn't touch her, didn't lean in, but just the proximity felt electric. Her laughter from

ked, her voice

ea

think love d

st time without flinching. "Not always. But..

e. And I realized that the lie we had agreed to-fake marriage, fake smiles, fake

ybe, we weren't as