Chapter 33
CADE
Ididn’t understand.
How could I? I’d proven myself to her, over and over. I’d been her friend. I thought I’d been a good boyfriend. Still, she pushed me away.
Why?
I knew the distance was hard. Too hard? Did I need to give up my job, my apartment, my life in California, and move across the country—just to have a chance with her?
What happened if I did all that, and she still rejected me?
What then? Part of me was terrified to feel the way I felt at 17, putting it all on the line, then suffering another rejection so bad there wasn’t a place on earth far enough to run away from the pain.
I still called her, every day.
To my sweet relief, she continued to answer.
But it wasn’t the same. I could feel her stacking up bricks, building a wall between us, increasing the distance between us that already felt almost impossible to cross.
Our phone conversations became stilted, robotic. We were still going through relationship motions, but full-of-life Brooke had slipped through my fingers once again.
I had no idea how it had happened, and worse—no idea how to fix it.