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Come on, Letty. Just one night.

That’s what we’d said the first time, and look where it’s gotten us.

I chew on my lip, staring down at a message from Jelani that I’ve been avoiding responding to all morning. I know I’ll eventually have to answer, but I’m not used to men who actively work for what they want.

I’m even less used to men who want me the way he seems to, but after the decision I had to make, I can’t handle his endearing demeanour, and I’m even less thrilled about the lie of omission I’ve been letting corrode my heart the last two years. It was the right decision for you, Letty. Stop it.

Shoving my phone back in my bag, I clench my eyes shut, trying to centre myself, but when I sit up, finding Elise’s eyes cracking open, my heart pounds violently against my expanding rib cage.

“Hey,” I say, and she sits up abruptly, her gaze swinging around the plane. Rafael turns in his seat the same way he has over and over this entire flight. His eyes narrow on Elise, the unrelenting excitement pouring out of her a clear sign to anyone who’s ever met her that something isn’t right.

I give him a tight smile, clamping my hand down on Elise’s thigh as she tries to stand. Gracias a Dios . She doesn’t fight me. She just fidgets in her seat and starts blabbering on about some plans she has that make no sense.

Honestly, I have practically zero understanding of what a manic episode is supposed to look like, but this is so far from her baseline grumpy-assed self that I have to believe that’s what this is. Or at least, it must be something similar.

Jesus Cristo, we are so fucked.