Page 69 of A Prescription to My Heart

His voice is quieter now. “And what does it mean, Talia?”

I look away. “That’s the problem. I don’t know.”

“You said it felt real,” he says, stepping forward.

I force myself to hold his gaze. “It did.”

“Then why are you running from it?”

“Because it wasn’t supposed to be,” I snap. Then softer, “Because I’m scared.”

His expression softens. “Of me?”

“Ofme,” I whisper. “Of what I feel when I’m with you. Of the way I’m not sure where the act ends anymore.”

He nods slowly.

I clear my throat. “I should go back to bed.”

He watches me walk past him. Doesn’t stop me. Doesn’t reach out.

But as I climb the stairs and close the door behind me, I know the truth. Even if I run, I’m already his.

Chapter 16

Soren

Everything’sdifferentnow.

I feel it in the way she avoids my gaze at breakfast. The way her shoulders stiffen when I reach past her for the sugar. The way she clears her throat every time silence stretches between us—as though the quiet might say what neither of us is willing to admit.

Marigold chatters beside us, a spoonful of cereal dancing in her hand as she tells Talia about a dream she had involving a purple tiger and a rainbow slide. It amazes me how well she’s taken to this. How she simply accepts Talia being here—happy that she’s here.

What will I tell her if Talia leaves?

I bite down on the inside of my cheek, forcing myself to eat like it’s any other day. Like I didn’t kiss her in front of two hundred people three nights ago. Like I don’t still feel the ghost of her lips on mine. Like I didn’t see her trembling afterward, pupils blown wide with something that looked too much likewant.

Marigold skips off to the living room, and as soon as her footsteps disappear, the air shifts. Talia clears her throat. Her fingers curl tightly around her mug.

“We need to talk,” she says.

The four words that never mean anything good.

I nod. “Okay.” “I think we should… go back to how things were before,” she says without looking at me.

My hand freezes halfway to my coffee. I set it down, slow and deliberate. “Before?”

Her lips tighten. “Professional. Clear boundaries. Just for Marigold.”

Something punches me low in the gut, sharp and unexpected. I stare at her. Wait for her to laugh. To say she’s kidding. That she’s still shaken up by everything and needs a second to recalibrate.

But she’s not joking. Her face is calm. Controlled. And fake.

I exhale through my nose, jaw tightening. “You want to pretend nothing happened?”

Talia flinches. Subtle. But I see it.

“I think it’s for the best,” she says softly.

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