She pressed her lips together, trying to hide the pain in her eyes. “Julian.”
She nudged him gently.
Julian lifted his head, his eyes dark and intense as he looked at her.
Madeline’s gaze was serious. “Did you take a laxative or something?”
“Huh?”
Julian blinked at her, completely lost.
“Your voice sounds a little weak,” Madeline said, just as seriously.
Julian just sat there, caught off guard. Whatever heavy mood he’d been sinking into, she pulled him right out of it and left him stuck in this weird, awkward moment. He could only look at her, helpless. “A laxative? So now I’m all weak from… that?”
“So I nailed it?” she asked, her eyes almost playful.
Julian tried not to smile as he pushed his feelings down. “Honestly, I must have been blind not to fall for you sooner.”
Only Madeline could ask something like that at a time like this. She was something else.
She knew what he really meant, of course. She just didn’t want to dig up the past again, didn’t want to keep talking about the same hurtful thing.
Even old wounds still sting when you rip them open.
She didn’t want to hurt anymore, so she covered it up with a joke.
But just because she let it go didn’t mean Julian could. His chest ached, the guilt settling in like a thousand little needles. It hurt.
He’d wanted to beg for forgiveness, but with what he’d done, how could she ever forgive him?
It felt shameless even to ask. All he could do was try, day after day, to make it up to her.
Someone knocked at the door.
“Who is it?” Madeline called out as she made her way to the light switch. The darkness was closing in, making it hard to breathe, and she needed the light.
“Ms. Monroe, it’s me.” Miles’s voice came from the hallway.

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