CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE #3
His expression tightened. “I came all the way here because I’m trying to fix this.”
Grandma remained calm. “Now it is time to leave.”
Wes stared at her. “What?”
“You need to go home,” Grandma said.
The words changed the entire room. Bee looked at Grandma, then at Wes, while the silence stretched between them.
Wes’s face hardened. “I’m not trying to cause problems.”
“Wes, I know you’re trying,” Grandma said gently.
Wes’s jaw tightened. “Then why are you kicking me out?”
“Because both of you are hurt,” Grandma said, steady but firm, “and neither of you is helping the other right now.”
“I can talk to her,” Wes insisted, taking a small step forward.
“You have,” Grandma said simply.
Wes looked toward Bee. “Do you want me to leave?”
Bee’s heart stopped. Everything inside her screamed no, and she wanted him to stay.
Bee wanted everything to stop at once. She wanted Maya to leave.
She wanted Grandma to leave. She wanted the accident to disappear, his truck to come back, and his shoulder to heal.
She wanted the last several days to turn into something they could laugh about someday.
She wanted Wes, but she did not want this.
Maya stayed beside her, silent and steady. She let the moment belong to Bee while Wes waited for an answer.
“Bee?” Wes asked.
Bee looked at him through her tears. “Yes.”
His face changed instantly, and Bee almost took it back. The hope in his expression disappeared before her eyes.
“Yes, what?” Wes asked quietly.
Bee struggled to breathe. “I think you should go.”
Wes stared at her, unable to speak. The room went still, and the silence pressed against all of them. After several seconds, he nodded once, slow and resigned.
“Okay,” Wes said.
The single word landed harder than anything they had argued about. It hurt more than every sharp moment that had come before it.
Bee wrapped her arms around herself while Wes turned toward the door. Grandma stepped aside to let him pass, but her expression softened as he reached for the handle.
“Wes,” Grandma said.
He looked back. “Yeah?”
“Go home and heal,” Grandma said.
Wes swallowed. “I’m trying.”
“I know,” Grandma replied.
His eyes moved to Bee one last time, lingering as though he wanted to say something he could not bring himself to speak. He held her gaze for a moment before looking away.
Bee wanted him to say something, anything, that would make her believe this wasn’t the end. She wanted him to tell her he loved her, that he would come back, that they weren’t really losing each other.
Instead, Wes opened the door. He kept his back to her when he spoke.
“I’ll leave you alone,” Wes said.
Bee’s mouth opened, but no words came out. Wes stepped outside and closed the door behind him, leaving Bee staring at it, unable to move or look away.
She stayed standing for several seconds, holding herself together through nothing but stubbornness. Then she heard the vehicle outside start, and whatever was keeping her upright disappeared.
Maya reacted quickly, stepping forward to catch Bee as her knees gave out. She held her steady and supported her weight before Bee could hit the floor.
Bee folded against her cousin and let out a sound that barely sounded like her. It was not the loud sobbing from the night before. It was something deeper, broken and breathless, as though the pain had gone past crying and found somewhere else to come out.
“I told him to go,” Bee choked out.
“I know,” Maya said, holding her tightly.
“I told him to leave,” Bee said again, her voice breaking.
“I know,” Maya repeated softly.
“I didn’t want him to leave,” Bee said.
Maya closed her eyes for a moment and pulled her closer. “I know.”
Bee shook her head against Maya’s shoulder. “Why did I say yes?”
“Because you needed him to stop hurting you,” Maya said gently.
“I love him,” Bee whispered.
“I know,” Maya replied.
“What if he thinks I don’t?” Bee asked.
“He knows now,” Maya said.
Bee’s sobs deepened. “That’s worse.”
Maya rubbed her back while Bee cried against her. Grandma stayed nearby, giving them space but refusing to leave the room.
Bee had thought the worst part was believing Wes might die. Then she thought it was watching him wake up and blame himself, or hearing him say they needed space. But this hurt differently. Wes was alive. He was still here, and somehow that made losing him feel even worse.
He cared enough to come looking for her. She loved him enough that watching him walk away felt like something inside her had been ripped loose. Even so, she had told him to go home. Every part of her wanted him to stay, but she had still let him leave.
Bee cried until her knees hurt against the floor and her throat burned. Maya stayed with her through every ugly breath and broken sentence. She never told Bee she had made the right decision because nothing about it felt right.
Eventually, Bee pulled back enough to look at her cousin. Her face was wet, her nose was red, and she no longer cared how she looked.
“What if that was it?” Bee whispered.
Maya’s eyes filled too. “I don’t know.”
Bee started crying again, and Maya pulled her back into her arms. She held Bee tightly before speaking again.
“You don’t go after him tonight,” Maya said.
Bee shook her head. “I want to.”
“I know,” Maya replied.
“I want to call him,” Bee whispered.
“I know,” Maya said.
“I want to tell him to come back,” Bee said.
Maya held her tighter. “I know.”
Bee buried her face against Maya’s shoulder. “Please don’t let me.”
“I won’t,” Maya promised.
Grandma quietly sat down in the chair beside them. She reached out and rested one hand against Bee’s back.
“You can love somebody and still tell them to leave your house,” Grandma said softly.
Bee looked up at her. “That feels horrible.”
Grandma nodded. “Sometimes it does.”
Bee wiped at her face. “What if he doesn’t come back?”
Grandma’s expression softened. “Then you will hurt.”
Bee’s expression collapsed as everything she had been holding back finally broke through. Fresh tears spilled over, and her breathing turned uneven and shaky. The thought of losing him again in real time was too much to hold.
Grandma continued before Bee could look away. Her hand remained steady against Bee’s back.
“If he comes back before he is ready to stop hurting you, you will hurt again,” Grandma said.
Bee stared at her without responding. Grandma rubbed her back once before continuing.
“Tonight, you do nothing,” Grandma said.
Bee let out another broken sob and leaned back into Maya. She did not argue with Grandma because she knew that if Wes called right now, she would answer before the first ring ended.
Her phone buzzed from the kitchen table, pulling all three of their attention toward it at once. Bee stopped breathing as Maya reached for it. When she turned the screen over, Wes’s name was already there.
Bee looked at Maya. “What did he say?”
Maya hesitated and looked down at the message. Her expression made Bee’s stomach tighten.
“Maya,” Bee said.
Maya turned the phone so Bee could see it.
Wes: I’m sorry. I won’t bother you again.
Bee stared at the message. For a few seconds, she made no sound at all. Then her entire face crumpled, and she folded back into Maya as another sob tore through her.
“Don’t let me answer him,” Bee cried.
“I won’t,” Maya said, wrapping both arms around her.
Bee clutched Maya’s shirt in both hands. “Even if I beg you.”
“I won’t,” Maya promised.
“I’m going to beg you,” Bee said.
“I know,” Maya replied.
Bee cried until she could no longer see the phone on the table. Maya stayed beside her, and Grandma remained close. Wes’s message went unanswered even though every part of Bee wanted to tell him that he had never been a bother.