Page 153 of Beautiful Trauma

“Mila, there’s no one else for me but you.”

“What about Brooke?”

“What?”

She gripped the steering wheel tighter. “You two are obviously close. She could give you what I can’t–a girlfriend without trauma.”

“You’re joking, right?”

Mila shook her head. “She could be better for you.”

“Once again, that’s bullshit. You wanna know why? Because like us, Brooke has her own trauma. Her parents were killed in a car accident, and then the same year, she got knocked up by her boyfriend who ditched her.”

“Oh,” she murmured.

“We bonded over our shared trauma. But in the end, that’s all there was between us.”

Mila glanced at me again. “What if that’s all there is between us?”

“It’s not.”

“But how do you know?”

“Because I’ve never felt for another woman what I felt for you.”

Her chest rose and fell in harsh pants. “I need to pull over.”

“Okay.”

After pulling off on the side of the road, Mila buried her head in her hands. “I’m sorry, Kellan. I’m so, so sorry.”

I reached over to rub her cheek. “Stop apologizing.”

“I’m just a mess. A complete and total mess.”

“And I still love you.”

“I don’t know why.”

“You will in time. When all the mess swirling in your head starts to go away, you’ll see. Right now you’re in too much emotional pain. But there will come a time when it will all fall into place. Like it did for me.”

“So, I’ll be that person again?”

“Yeah, you will. Except you’ll be an even stronger version of her.”

A faint smile pulled on Mila’s lips. “I’ll have you to thank for that strength.”

“That’s all on you.”

She shook her head. “No. I might’ve been able to save myself before, but I need someone now. I need you.”

I reached forward to kiss her. “Come on. Let’s get to the farm, Speedy.”

Mila laughed. “Okay.”

It didn’t take us long to make it, especially with Mila’s lead foot. When we pulled into the winding driveway, Mila leaned forward in the seat, taking in everything out the windshield.

As the house came into view, she gasped. “It’s just like I imagined it would be. Like an English cottage.”