“Well, he needs the help. You’re right about that, and I’m perfect for the job,” she says, pleasing me with her confidence. “But, Grady, you’ve done enough. Okay? I know you feel bad about the accident and the aftermath, but it’s done. Nothing can change it.”

Sometimes, nothing can be done. “I know, and I’m sorry, and I won’t stop feeling sorry just because you want me to.”

Her hands tighten on my forearm, and her eyes lock on mine. “You know, don’t you? About everything I lost in the accident?”

Her question hits me so hard that I almost step back. Only I can’t. Stepping back means leaving her touch, and I refuse to do that. Or outright lie to her. “Yes.”

“I thought you might.”

“I overheard. Outside your room, when the doctor… I shouldn’t have listened.”

She chuckles softly, still holding on with both hands like I might leave her. “It’s okay. A relief, actually. That someone else knows. Someone who… doesn’t hold it against me.”

I swallow a growing lump in my throat. Her vulnerability with me, letting me into her pain like I’m not the cause of it, does something to the outer crust I’ve worked so hard to build around me since moving back home. It flakes away under her gaze, her words, her fingertips, like old paint off weather-beaten boards. I imagine if she snapped her fingers, it would disappear altogether. “I would never hold it against you. No one should. Still, Marina, I’m so⁠—”

“Grady, please, listen to me. It’s not your fault. I held the knife in my lap. Ashe was the dummy who couldn’t remember the one thing he had to do besides get dressed and show up. Cora didn’t even notice it sitting on the counter in their kitchen—it was her family heirloom. Don’t you see? The blame game has us going around in useless circles. Still, nothing changes.”

“I fucked up your life, Marina. I’m responsible.”

Her eyes fix on mine, locking me in. “Remember what I said? Those impressive shoulders can’t carry everything. And I don’t want them to. I didn’t deserve what happened, but you don’t deserve a lifetime of guilt for it, either. I won’t be defined by a freaking body part, and, you know what? I’m stronger without it and better off with a question mark for a future than one as the Sullivan’s go-to girl. Please, Grady. Let this be the last thing.”