Page 210 of Make the Play

“I didn’t run fast enough for her.”

“She’s still here, isn’t she?”

I exhale slowly. “Yeah. But I don’t know how to show her I’m not going anywhere without smothering her.”

“Start small,” Jordan says. “The little things… they matter”

“What if it’s not enough?”

“Then you try again. And again. You don’t need a grand gesture, you just need to be steady.”

My throat burns. “I want to fix it.”

“You can’t. You can only love her through it.”

A long pause stretches between us, and I don’t fill it with words, because if I do, I might fall apart again. So instead I wait for Jordan to speak.

“You don’t have to be the one who saves everybody, you just have to keep showing up.”

I nod again, swallowing the lump in my throat. “Yeah. Okay.”

“And hey,” he adds, tone light again. “Next time, don’t wait until after a five-minute major and a national TV meltdown to call me in the dead of night. I’ll pick up even if you’re not trending.”

“Thanks, J.”

My chest still aches, but this time it’s manageable. Bearable. And the nightmare haze is starting to fade.

“You should call more often,” Jordan teases. “You might actually find I’m great company.”

“You’re still a dick,” I mutter.

“And you’re still my baby brother.”

A pause.

“I love you, Chaser. Always have.”

“I know,” I say. “Love you, too. Sorry it took me so long to say it back.”

Another beat of silence, then a dark chuckle.

“Better late than frozen.”

I end the call and sit with the silence, something I’ve been trying to linger in a bit longer these past weeks. This time, it doesn’t feel like punishment, it feels like a pause. A breath.

A chance to start moving again.

Chapter forty-one

I’ll keep my face pretty just for you

Chase

Idon’t sleep much the next night, but it’s different now. Not like before, when silence felt like punishment. It’s still quiet, but not empty or frozen anymore. I’m moving—slow, steady, and toward her.

The morning after the phone call with Jordan, I send coffee. Same order she always gets. I don’t write a note, just type her name in the delivery instructions and hope she opens the door.

An hour later, I send a text.

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