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“You’re over-thinking it,” he whispered, alass “I was engaged to Violet two years ago We were dating, she got pregnant I thought we’d becoot an abortion because she was asked to dance in Paris”

“Wow—”

“It gets worse She toldeither, even after she’d gotten ether a year I re because it was too plain” He didn’t looked bothered at all, like he was telling someone else’s story, not his own

“But she came back”

“There were rumors she had an affair with the ballet director in Paris, so she joined Darcy Entertainment”

“And you just let her?”

He looked at h you did eed her at the recital”

“I didn’t rudge for years In fact…”

Don’t, Felicity I didn’t talk about my past, not with anyone, yet I felt like I could tell hi me not to do it in the back of mind

“In fact?” He waited

Exhaling deeply, I faced the screen again “I haven’t spoken to ht me to dance and play piano We used to sit side-by-side and play all the time So many people wanted ot so many invitations But I didn’t care about that I only wanted to show ht, she died Three days later hters They looked just like er thanTo her credit, the woman was never ot into trouble, I never looked back My life… I’m ainside me Like I’et too close, they get sucked in and die No one wants the broken girl People cheer you on when you’re a kid, but when you’re a teenager or an adult, they say, ‘Why aren’t you better yet? What’s wrong with you?’ I wish I knew the answer”

He didn’t say anything, and I was grateful for that We watched the rest of the movie in silence

Theo

I understood why she was so distant nohy she no longer played, and in a way I took coht: she was just like me We had both been let down by our fathers and deeply missed our mothers

I wondered if that was the reason I was so draw to her Maybe so for things that weren’t there Either way, I wanted her just like this