Chapter Thirty - James
CHAPTER THIRTY
James
James didn't remember walking to his apartment. One moment he was in the doorway, Hannah's words cutting through him like glass, and the next he was here—standing in his perfect living room with its perfect view, feeling completely shattered.
"Some people look without seeing."
He squeezed his eyes shut, but her voice followed him. Even now, even here, she was teaching him. Showing him exactly who he was.
A man who walked past neighbors without acknowledging them.
A man who checked emails instead of checking on people.
A man who saw Hannah every day and never really saw her at all.
Until it was too late.
"Being truly seen is a gift."
A laugh escaped him—harsh and broken. Because that was the cruelest part, wasn't it? She was all he saw now.
But all he could hear was the echo of every morning he'd rushed past her. Every time she'd straightened that lobby painting while he'd been too busy with his phone to notice. Every moment he could have seen her, should have seen her, and didn't.
He'd spent months trying to prove he'd changed. That he could be the man she deserved.
And in one speech, she'd reminded him of exactly why he didn't deserve her at all.
"Others see you," her voice whispered in his memory. "They notice you."
His hand curled into a fist against the glass.
He stood at his window, watching night fall over the city, remembering how Hannah's voice had trembled when she'd talked about being truly seen.
He'd been the kind of man who could walk past Hannah Miller every day and never notice she was the most important thing he'd ever overlooked.
The city lights blurred before him, and James let out a shaky breath.
All he could hear was the echo of every time he'd failed her.
Every time he'd looked right through her.
Every morning he'd wasted, not seeing what was right in front of him.
James pressed his forehead against the cool glass, feeling utterly lost.
Because how did you forgive yourself for being blind to the most beautiful thing in your world?
How did you ever make up for the time you wasted, not seeing what mattered?
How did you convince someone you were worth trusting, when you'd spent so long proving you weren't?