“I remember. I wish you wouldn’t make me wait so long to see you again.”
She ignored that. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Until then, please leave me alone.”
Sensing that her shaky grip on her emotions was about to fail, she turned away and strode toward the stairs with her back straight, consciously monitoring her breathing to keep it from quickening into shallow, panicky gulps.
“Shannon.”
With her foot hovering over the precipice of the step, she glanced over her shoulder and waited for him to speak again.
“I love you.”
The tender entreaty in his voice triggered her habit to say it back, but she pressed her lips together in a sad smile to keep the words trapped inside. The sincerity in them had fractured the moment he’d told her to leave his house, and without it, the words were hollow an
