The wind was calm that evening, brushing through the early summer leaves like a hush before a storm.
Brace parked outside Sabrina’s modest home and sat for a moment, fingers gripping the wheel. He had rehearsed this a dozen times in his head—what to say, how to explain everything. But none of the versions in his mind felt enough.
Tonight, he’d tell her the truth. All of it. Before someone else did. He knocked once.
She opened the door, surprise flickering across her face. “Brace?”
“I needed to see you,” he said quietly. “Can we talk?”
She stepped aside and let him in. The living room was dimly lit, warm, and comfortable. Her presence made it feel like home—even when everything between them was still caught in a strange limbo.
“Is this about the rehearsal?” she asked, cautiously.
“Ye
