Joanne gently moved her hand from his back, resting it on her lap. Her warmth didn't disappear—but it cooled. There was a dignity rising in her now, a bitter truth clawing its way out of her.
"I was always the afterthought. The quiet girl everyone wanted to just… endure, just because. And now you…" She turned her head slightly, though her eyes still stared into the dark. "You too…"
The silence that followed was brutal.
She swallowed, but the lump in her throat remained. "Do you think I'm so easy to love because I'll stay, even after all that?"
Her question wasn't rhetorical. It was raw. Real. And the wound it revealed was deeper than any he had expected.
Jeffrey heard every word—felt every word—and he wasn't angry. How could he be?
She had every right to ask that. He had always told her to stand tall, to believe in her worth, to stop letting people walk over her. How could he now be surprised when she held him to the same standard?
