“That you love me, but you’re scared. You’re running away from me before I can walk away from you.”

“You shouldn’t have to take care of me the rest of your life,” he said, sounding broken.

“Nope. No, I don’t. But that’s what you do when you love each other. You take care of each other, Zeke. I don’t… I don’t even know why I’m here if you don’t want me.” I wiped my wet nose. “But what we’re going through—what you’re going through—is a lot, and we make the worst decisions when we’re afraid. So I’m choosing to believe you’re just saying all of this because you’re hurting. I’m choosing to fight for us. If you don’t love me, that’s one thing. But I don’t believe that. Not for a second.”

His eyes glossed over, and he bowed his head, propping his elbows on his knees and his head with his hands. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. He looked up. “I’m sorry for everything I said last night. I know Peter is a class-A prick. I know he’s been chasing you since you were kids. I know you didn’t ask for any of this, but I ain’t got a fucking job, Naomi. I can’t drink, defend your honor, pull an all-nighter, or overexert myself. I’m an old man. You deserve more.”

“That’s bullshit,” I seethed, standing. “You don’t have to do this. You’re choosing this, armed with a lot of bullshit excuses.”

“It’s not,” he said, pausing to lower his voice. “I’m all out of options, Naomi. I can’t… We gotta cut our losses. I don’t want to say it, but one of us has to.”

“To say what?”

He walked over to the door, holding it open, looking like he was about to throw up. “It’s over.”

I walked into the hall, hearing the door close behind me.

I pounded on the door once. “If you love me, you’re a coward! And if you don’t, you’re a liar!”

When he didn’t open it, I hurried down the stairs, stopped in the lobby by Darby.

“Naomi,” she said, unsure. “What are you doing here?”

I looked past her, trying to think of something polite to say to get me away quickly, but then I had an idea. “I came to see Zeke.”

“You did? How, um… That’s really great.” Darby said the words with conviction. She meant them, but she was surprised. “It’s real quiet without the boys here.”

“Hey, Darby,” a woman said as she passed. She was wearing coveralls, peeled down, the sleeves tied around her waist, her once-white tank top covered in grease and dirt.