looked back at the river.
“I wasn’t going to keep applying for a different answer.”
“I know.”
“You said no. I believed you.”
The plainness of it left me nowhere to hide. I had spent years congratulating myself for not imposing my feelings on her, while she had spent those same years respecting a rejection I had never meant. My caution had not spared her pain. It had simply made sure I would not have to see it.
“I told myself that if you wanted anything else, I’d know,” I
