Page 33 of Let Me In

“Most people ask if it’s fast. Or how much it’s worth.”

I glance out the window. “I know it isn’t about that.”

I pause, watching the road stretch out ahead of us.

“My bike’s like that too,” I add quietly. “It’s not just about the ride. It’s about knowing I can get away if I need to. About having something that listens back.”

He doesn’t say anything for a beat. Just drives.

Then, his voice softens. “You alright?”

The words come gently. Like an offer. Like I can set something down, too, if I want to.

I shrug, but it’s not a real one. “I know my family’s a lot.”

“That’s not what I asked, baby."

I go quiet. Because I don’t know how to answer. Because I kind of want to cry, and I don’t want to ruin this.

And that word—baby—settles over me like warmth through chilled skin. It’s new. Just as soft aslittle one,somehow. A different kind of endearment, but no less intimate. It unravels something I didn’t know was knotted inside me.

I wonder, dizzy and aching, if he even knows what that does to me.

But then he says it.

“You don’t owe anyone permission to be gentle with yourself. You hear me? That kindness belongs to you—it always has.”

A tight breath rises before I can stop it. It’s not the kind of thing I’ve ever been told. Not in that way, not with care.

I don’t respond right away.

But I know I’ll carry those words for a long, long time.

We don’t drive toward town.

Not at first.

I glance over. “I thought you said you were heading in?”

He nods, eyes steady on the road. “I am. Eventually.”

A pause.

“But I thought this might be better first.”

The Chevelle glides into a narrow turnout I never noticed before. A quiet patch above the water, tucked behind a screen of trees. There’s space for one car and a view that stretches out past the mist and then nothing but ocean. The kind of place that feels like a secret.

He kills the engine. Doesn’t say anything. Just gets out.

Comes around to open my door.

Not flashy. Not showy.

Just… considerate.

The way he always is.

I step out slowly, the air cooler here. Salt-tinged and sharp.

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