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Aura’s smile grew slowly. “I love this version of you.”
“So do I.”
“She’s terrifying,” Bliss said. “You deserve stronger friends.”
“I have Aura for strength and you for when I need softness.”
Bliss attempted to fold her arms before remembering the foils and cape. “I don’t think Ryan intends to be cruel.”
“I don’t either. He doesn’t owe me warmth, forgiveness, or a comfortable reunion. He owes you and Cade respect during your wedding, and I know he’ll give you that.”
“And what do you owe him?”
“Respect.”
The answer was easy. Respecting Ryan meant accepting that treatment hadn’t purchased another chance with him. The life I built wasn’t evidence I could submit as proof that he should trust me again, and surviving what I should have confronted years earlier didn’t entitle me to admiration from the man who paid for every truth I refused to face.
Ryan had the right to look at the woman I was now and decide the woman who betrayed him still existed beneath everything I changed.
I had the right to make sure he looked long enough to see the difference.
“I won’t beg him,” I said.
Aura’s eyes found mine in the mirror. “Nobody said you should.”
“I begged after he left. I apologized until the words stopped meaning anything, sent messages through people he trusted, and kept trying to reach a man who made it clear he needed me gone. I won’t do that again.”
Bliss watched me carefully. “Then what will you do?”
“Respect whatever boundary he gives me.” I leaned back in the chair and looked at the woman reflected beneath the salon lights. “But I’m not going to hide from him either.”
Neither of them interrupted.
“I spent our entire relationship waiting for Ryan to cross every distance between us. He found me when I ran, pulled me out of my head, and kept telling me the truth until I was brave enough to hear pieces of it. Then, when he needed me to take one step toward him without being dragged, I left him standing alone.”
My throat tightened, but I didn’t look away from myself.
“I won’t corner him or demand forgiveness. If he wants distance, I’ll give it to him. If he says no, I’ll accept it.” I paused before admitting what I had been too afraid to say aloud, even to the women who knew almost every ugly piece of our ending. “But if he looks at me, I’m looking back. If he opens a door, I’m walking through it. If he gives me one moment to remind him who we were together, I’m taking it.”
Aura’s mouth slowly curved. “You’re coming for your man.”
“I’m giving him every opportunity to remember that he was my man.” The difference mattered, even if the hope beneath it hurt exactly the same. “What he does with that belongs to him.”
“And if he still walks away?” Bliss asked.
The question found the fear I had carried into every therapy session where Ryan’s name surfaced. I let myself feel it without allowing it to answer for me.
“Then I’ll let him go,” I said. “But he will leave knowing I chose him. He will never spend another day wondering whether I was willing to stand beside him once loving him became uncomfortable.”
Bliss smiled, though her eyes remained wet. “You still want him back.”
“I have never wanted anything more.” I looked at the photograph still glowing across my phone, then at the woman in the mirror who no longer needed someone else’s desire to believe she was worth seeing. “But respecting his pain doesn’t require me to become a target for it. If Ryan leaves after this wedding, he’ll leave because he decided he can’t trust me again. It won’t be because I was too afraid to tell him I still love him.”
Aura’s expression softened. “Good.”
Bliss watched me through the mirror. “You really are ready.”
“I’ve been ready. You two are dramatic.”
