I imagined him answering, his voice careful, controlled, already bracing.
I need space.
This isn’t about you.
I’m trying to do the right thing.
And that wasexactlywhy I couldn’t call.
If I called now, Theo would hear obligation. Pressure. A reason to explain himself instead of listening to what he actually felt.
And worse?
He would come back because I asked. Because he didn’t want to hurt me.
Gary’s words echoed again, ugly and persistent.
You’re living under his roof. That gives him power.
If I called him now, Theo would hear confirmation of his worst fear.
I hurt you. I need to fix this by leaving less.
I wouldn’t do that to him.
I wouldn’t let love turn into duty.
Instead, I scrolled back through our messages. Theo reminding me to eat. Theo sending rehearsal times with a heart as if it slipped out accidentally. Theo asking,You okay?—and meaning it every single time.
Theo hadn’t disappeared because he didn’t care.
He’d disappeared because he cared too much and didn’t trust himself to stay.
My jaw tightened.
If I called him now, I’d steal the choice.
Theo had to come back because he wanted to, not because I pulled him there with my hurt.
I set the phone down carefully as though it might break, and leaned back against the sofa, my eyes burning.
This was the hardest thing, not chasing him, not fixing this. Not rescuing him.
I have to trust the man I love to find his way back.
Because if Theo couldn’t choose to stay, I wouldn’t build a future on guilt.
My phone buzzed and my heart leapt, except it wasn’t Theo, just the group chat.
I swallowed hard.
“Okay,” I whispered to the empty room. “I’ll wait.” Not forever, but long enough.
I picked up the note again, smoothing the crease with my thumb.
This isn’t about you.
“I know,” I said quietly. “But I wish you’d let me stand with you.”