Chapter 25 – Mateo
Chapter Twenty-Five
MATEO
Istep into the living room as Analyse disappears upstairs with Maya. Her arm was around her daughter, voice soft, careful, nurturing, but I saw the way her shoulders trembled as they climbed the stairs. Whatever happened out on that porch, it fucked with her head. I know it.
The living room is still buzzing with leftover energy.
Glitter clings to the floor, cocoa mugs and wine glasses litter the coffee table, and everyone’s voices are too damn loud.
They don’t know, though. They can’t tell that everything is falling apart right now.
They don’t realize that there’s a crack in the air.
“Alright,” I say, clapping my hands once. “The party’s over.”
Seb frowns from the arm of the couch, one brow arched. “Is everything okay with Lyse?”
“No,” I answer honestly. There’s no point in pretending. “But I’ve got it.”
He starts to stand, Mari and Anna right behind him.
“Seriously. She just needs a minute. I’ll talk to her.”
“She’s my sister.”
“And she’s my girl.”
Seb hesitates. “You sure?”
“Yeah.” I nod. “I’m sure.”
They start gathering their things. Andres is the first to step out the front door, muttering something about glue still being in his hair.
Anna kisses my cheek on her way past and whispers, “Take care of her.”
“I always do.”
Nathan lingers the longest, arms crossed over his chest. He gives me one of those long, assessing looks. Finally, he nods, murmurs, “Good man,” and follows the rest out.
The house quiets. I sit on the edge of the couch, elbows on my knees, watching the stairs, waiting to magically have the answers I need. I don’t know exactly what Nico said, but I know Analyse, and I know the look in her eyes well enough to recognize old pain when it’s been freshly scraped open.
To no surprise of mine, he fucked up.
The first time I met the guy was when he came rolling back into town like everyone’s been waiting on him with bated breath.
And I saw right through him. I could see what he was really after by coming back.
I was hoping I was wrong. I was hoping that I was just being cynical.
Maya deserves so much fucking better. Analyse deserves better.
I don’t hate people. I don’t usually care enough for anyone to elicit hate in me. But I hate that motherfucker. The urge to run out of this house and wrap my hands around his neck is great, but I know that isn’t what’s right for Analyse and Maya. That isn’t what they need. They need me.
So here I am. Sitting here, waiting. Because I will never turn my back on them. No matter how hard she wants to push me away right now. I will never be him. I will never hurt them.
When she finally comes downstairs, her steps are slower. Controlled. Her face is blank, but not unreadable. Not to me, at least. I see the glimmer in her eyes, the tight set of her jaw. She halts when she sees me.
“You’re still here,” she says quietly, surprise written all over her face.
“Of course, I’m here.”
“I thought maybe…” She gestures vaguely toward the door, not finishing.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Her lips press into a line. She walks into the kitchen and starts stacking mugs. I follow her, leaning against the counter across from her. She won’t look at me.
“Lyse.”
“Yeah,” she says as she continues to clean the mess surrounding us.
“Look at me.”
She looks up at me with those big brown eyes, and the pain I see within them tears my heart clean apart.
“He’s leaving town,” she says after a beat.
I don’t say anything. I just wait for her to let it all out.
She sets down the last mug and finally turns toward me, tears beginning to slip from her lashes. She folds in on herself, body curling inward as she breaks down in front of me. I’m there in an instant, pulling her into my arms. Her hands clutch at my hoodie as she sobs into my chest.
“I don’t get it,” she chokes out. “I don’t know how he could walk away from her. From this. From everything.”
“I know,” I murmur, stroking her hair, holding her close. “I know.”
We stay like that until her breathing slows, until the trembling eases just a little. When she finally pulls back, her face is blotchy, eyes red, and still the most beautiful woman in the world.
“Nico’s gone,” she says again, voice hollow. “So we can break up now. We’ll tell everyone we tried but realized we’re better off as friends.”
I blink. “Is that what you want, Lyse? To be just friends?”
She hesitates then says, “We were always supposed to end, Mateo. That was the deal.”
“That’s now what I asked.”
Her jaw tightens. “I’m not sure what you want me to say.”
“How about the truth?”
“I don’t know what the truth is, Mateo. I don’t know!” Her voice cracks. “I’m confused, dammit. I thought I had it figured out. I thought I knew what I was doing, and now I don’t think I know anything.”
I take a step closer. “So how about I give you a truth then, Lyse.”
She doesn’t move, doesn’t speak, she just stands there, staring. She has no idea. I’m not letting her go. Not like this. Not ever. Not unless she really doesn’t want me. Not unless she really doesn’t want us.
“I remember the first time I ever laid my eyes on you,” I say, my voice low.
“You were twenty-four. Pregnant. And scared out of your damn mind on how your life was about to change. You walked into the firehouse like a storm—wearing this yellow sundress covered in tiny white daisies, your long curly hair was wild and frizzing from the summer heat.”
She blinks fast, her lips parting, like she remembers too.
“You came in with fire in your eyes, demanding that Seb take you to the next town over because you were craving candied apples. You didn’t even say hi to the rest of us…you were on a mission.” I huff a quiet laugh. “Everyone else thought it was funny. I couldn’t stop staring.”
I pause, just for a second, my voice catching before I go on.
“You looked…tired. Overwhelmed. But underneath it all, you radiated something I didn’t have words for yet.
You were scared—anyone could see it—but what I saw first, what hit me like a punch to the chest, was your strength.
How sure you were that even if you had to do it all alone, you were still going to do it. ”
Her arms fold over her chest, holding herself together.
“I didn’t know you, not yet, but something about you pulled at me. Like gravity. You were this force, Lyse. A magnet. And I felt it from the jump. I felt it in my gut. That I needed to know you. That I wanted to be near you, even if I didn’t understand why.”
She looks down, a tear falling before she can swipe it away.
“And from that moment on, I made a choice—even if I didn’t realize it then—that I would show up for you in whatever way I could.
However you needed. Because even when you were a stranger in a sundress with nothing but fierce words and tired eyes, I knew you mattered.
I didn’t have all the details. I didn’t need them. I just knew.”
I take another step, slowly, not wanting to spook her.
“I didn’t know what it meant then, but I know now. I know that I was meant to love you. I was meant to love both of you. I’ve spent every day since getting closer to that truth.”
“Mateo…”
“No. Let me finish.”
She goes quiet again, tears slipping down her cheeks.
“I don’t care how scared you are, how many walls you try to build, or how hard you try to push me away—I’m not going anywhere.
You can tell yourself this is temporary, that we were always meant to be some short-lived thing, but you and I both know that’s not true.
I know you feel the same way I do, even if it terrifies you.
Even if saying it out loud makes it more real than you’re ready for. ”
I take a breath, steadying my voice. “What we have, this thing between us, it’s not perfect. It’s messy. It’s layered with history and heartache and baggage neither of us asked for. But it’s real. God, Lyse, it’s so real. And it’s ours. You feel it. I know you do.”
I reach out and brush a tear from her cheek.
“I’m not giving up on you. I’m not giving up on us. I’m going to show you that I’m here, that I’m in this for the long haul. Because I love you, Lyse. I love you so damn much.”
Her breath hitches.
“I love you so much that if you told me you wanted space, I’d give it to you.
If you told me you needed time, I’d wait forever.
But if you’re standing here trying to convince yourself that you don’t love me back?
That we were always supposed to end? That this doesn’t mean everything?
” I shake my head. “Then I’m calling bullshit. ”
She covers her mouth, shoulders shaking.
“I know you’re scared,” I say, softer now. “Hell, I am, too. You’ve been through a lot, and I’d never fault you for protecting your heart. But don’t pretend this isn’t real just because it’s easier to run. Don’t lie to yourself because it hurts less than letting someone in.”
I move closer, giving her space to pull away…but she doesn’t.
“You don’t have to say anything. Not tonight. Not tomorrow. But I need you to hear this.”
I rest a hand over my heart. “If I really believed, for even a second, that you didn’t want me…that you needed me gone to be okay? I’d walk out that door and never come back. Because I love you that much, Lyse. I’d do it in a heartbeat.”
A pause. Her breath is shallow, her eyes locked on mine.
“But that’s not what you want. I know it. You know it. You’re scared, not indifferent. And I can work with scared. I can meet you in the middle of it. I can sit in it with you every damn day until the fear quiets enough for the love to speak louder.”
She presses a hand to her chest, like trying to hold something in.
“So go ahead,” I say. “Build your walls. Push me away. Slam every door you think you need to. I’ll still be here. Every time. I’ll keep showing up. Until the day you let yourself believe what I already know.”
I step even closer now, until we’re just a breath apart.
“I’m gonna go home tonight,” I tell her gently. “Give you space so that you can go upstairs, take a hot bath, and listen to one of those podcasts you love so much.”
Her lips twitch, almost like a smile.
“Do whatever you need to do to feel like yourself again. I mean it.”
I let a beat pass, watching her carefully. “But I’ll be back, chula. I’ll always come back.”
I press a quick kiss to her forehead, then I step back, letting my hand trail down her arm before I turn around and walk toward the door. I walk out into the quiet night, the cold nipping at my skin, and close the door gently behind me.
Hope hums in my chest like a steady flame—because I meant every word. I’ll keep showing up. I’ll keep loving her through the fear, the silence, the uncertainty. I’ll keep choosing her, over and over again…until the day she chooses me too.