Chapter 23 #3
“I see what this place did to you. I watched you spend years putting yourself back together. And now you've walked right back into it.”
She looked away briefly. "I couldn't ignore it this time."
"Why?"
"Because nobody else is asking the questions, Isaac. Kevin deserves justice. I owe him that”.
“That's not your responsibility.”
“It feels like it is.”
He shook his head. “You're making it your responsibility because you can't let go.”
She stiffened. “That's not fair.”
"It's exactly what's happening. You've spent your entire life trying to make sense of your father. And now you've convinced yourself this is the answer. What if it is? Isaac continued, "You could destroy yourself chasing something that never gives you peace?"
"You don't understand."
"Then help me understand."
“I can't”.
“Or won't.” He said.
The words landed like a slap. She felt the sting of betrayal. After everything she'd confessed, she'd expected understanding, not resistance. She'd trusted him with the truth, and somehow he still couldn't see why she had to keep going.
“I just told you everything.”
“Only after years of vague stories have you been shutting me out." His frustration finally broke through. "That's what a partnership is, Kara!"
People were openly staring now.
She lowered her voice.
“Can we not do this here?”
“That's the problem,” he said. "Everything with you is later."
“I just need time.”
“You've had years to get over it.” He stepped forward.
She flinched.
“I didn't mean that.”
Kara took a step backward. “You did.”
“I'm so confused. I came here to surprise the woman I'm going to marry.”
His voice cracked. “But I don't think you want me anymore.”
Her heart lurched.
“Isaac.”
“You need time. Answers. I'm starting to think I'll stand in the way of them.” He focused on the hotel behind them before meeting her eyes again. “I’ll give you the space you asked for.”
“What are you saying?”
“I'm going home.” She stared at him. “I'm not here to fight with you. We’re trying to pull each other in opposite directions.”
A tear slipped down her cheek.
“I love you.”
“I know. I love you too, Kara.” He said, with an impossibly sad smile.
“But loving someone doesn't always mean you're the person they need beside them.” He leaned forward, kissed her forehead, and lingered there for a moment.
“When you're ready, call me. I’m going to give you space. Not because I want to—but because maybe you need this closure more than you need me right now. Just please be careful.”
Then he turned and walked back toward the hotel entrance.
Kara didn't stop him. She watched him until the revolving doors swallowed him whole, leaving her standing alone on the sidewalk, wondering whether she'd just chosen Pine Ridge over the man she'd planned to spend the rest of her life with.
The ring glinted on her finger—a perfect, beautiful thing. Like the future Isaac had offered her.
She needed to move. Kara followed the sidewalk away from the hotel. The town was slower here, tucked beneath the mountains, with only the occasional car passing and the distant sound of conversation drifting from the shops.
She walked farther than she intended. Long enough for her thoughts to quiet.
By the time she turned back toward the hotel, the sky had begun to darken at the edges.
Kara slowed as the building came into view.
She wasn’t sure what she expected.
Maybe Isaac would be sitting in the lobby. Maybe he’d be inside the room, waiting for her with that look that always made her wonder what he was thinking.
Still, her eyes went immediately to the entrance.
She stepped inside. The lobby was quiet. A few people sat scattered across the chairs, their voices low beneath the hum of the television behind the front desk.
Kara glanced toward the elevators, then toward the doors.
She hadn’t realized until that moment that some part of her had been hoping he’d still be there.
Of course he was gone.
What had she expected?
She had told him the truth: she hadn’t slept with Colin. But what she didn’t say—what she couldn’t say—was that part of her wanted to, and that was somehow worse.
Kara leaned forward and pressed her palms into her eyes until she saw stars.
What the hell am I doing? She thought.
Her phone buzzed on the nightstand.
She didn’t look at it.
Whatever it was—work, Zo, maybe even Colin—it could wait. Everything could wait.
Right now, she needed to sit with what just happened: that she’d hurt someone good. That she’d pushed away the life she had so carefully built, and she wasn’t even sure why.
Kara lay back on the bed, eyes open, staring up at the ceiling fan. It spun in lazy, uneven circles, like her thoughts.
How do you return to a life you no longer believe you belong in?
She slid the ring off her finger and placed it gently on the bedside table, staring at it for a long moment before turning away.
Outside, the sky was bleeding toward dusk, shadows stretching long and soft across the carpet. Tears streamed down her face as she lay there unmoving, letting the weight of everything settle in around her.