ELARA'S POV
I told Maya over the phone the next morning.
Silence. Long enough that I checked if the call had dropped.
"Maya."
"I'm here. I'm processing."
"You have ten seconds."
"Elara, you got divorced from this man eighteen months ago."
"I know."
"And now you're engaged to him again."
"I know."
"I need you to tell me, honestly, that this isn't trauma bonding dressed up as a love story."
It wasn't the reaction I'd wanted but it was the one I'd expected. "It's not. I know the difference between who he was and who he is now."
"Do you? Because sometimes we see what we want to see."
"Maya….."
"I'm not trying to ruin this. I'm asking because I love you and I watched you disappear the first time and I can't watch that again."
I took a breath. "I'm not disappearing. I set terms. H
