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He didn’t say anything for a h and you are worthy Okay? Yeah, you ot behind the wheel of that car, but that’s not going to define who you are from this point on You knohy?"

My eyes widened "Why?"

"Because you learned fro everything to not ain And secondly? You have depression So do howto downplay it I know it’s serious shit, but do you think that makes me think less of you? Depression isn’t a villain in this The way you were trying to cope with it was Depression isn’t the bad guy and neither are you Not when you recognize what you’ve done"

Tears rushed my eyes

"And finally?" he continued "I love you, Andrea"

My lips parted "Coh "I love you Okay? I’ I’ve felt it, but I know that’s what I feel Trustto die, the panic and horror I felt? Yeah, I kno I feel"

All I could do was stare at hiently cupped my cheeks and tilted my head back "I don’t want you to say it back to me now, because when I hear those words, I want you to be sure I want you to say them with only happiness in your eyes I can wait for that I ait for that"

As I stared into his eyes, in that moment, I knew that I still loved hi, the realization that I so did not deserve hi Dave loved so much

Chapter 24

Andrea

"Do you really believe in happy endings?" I asked

Dave arched a brow as he sat behind the desk "Of course I do Without them, what’s the point of all of this?"

It had been teeks since I’d seen Tanner, teeks since he’d said that he loved me and he’d wait to hear me say it with only happiness inthat I deserved a happy ending

"It’s a strange question to ask," he co I wanted to do was talk about Tanner with souy Why, oh why, did my counselor have to be a dude? "Tanner said--"

"Oh, the drearinned when I narrowed my eyes on him "Continue"