The Conversation They Never Had
“Elise,” he said, approaching her table. “I—”
“You don’t have to say anything,” she said, her voice steady, though her hands gripped the wheels of her chair tighter.
“I didn’t know you’d be here.”
“That much is obvious.”
A pause. The violinist continued to play in the background, unaware of the tension between the former couple.
“You look… good,” Jason said awkwardly.
Elise tilted her head. “I look like I’m sitting down for the rest of my life.”
He flinched. “Elise, I never meant for any of this—”
She held up her hand.
“Don’t. Don’t try to rewrite what you did.”
Jason’s voice cracked. “I didn’t know how to face you after the accident. I thought you didn’t want me to.”
“I didn’t,” she admitted. “Because I needed to find out if I was strong enough to stand on my own, even if I can’t stand at all.”
He sat down across from her.
“You are,” he said quietly. “Stronger than I ever was.”
She looked him in the eye. “Then why are you still hiding behind someone else?”
He turned, following her gaze. Clarissa sat watching from the table, confused and starting to get suspicious.
Jason sighed. “It’s not what you think.”
Elise raised an eyebrow. “You’re here with the same woman I found out about six months ago. What am I supposed to think?”
