Cassie
I didn’t answer Brett’s apology.
Not because I wanted to punish him. That would have been easier, actually. Anger gave you somewhere to put the hurt. You could slam a door, send a nasty text, complain to your friends, and feel justified for at least a few hours. Brett hadn’t given me anything to be angry about this time. He had sent five simple words sometime after midnight.
I’m sorry I never noticed.
I had stared at them until almost one in the morning.
Then I put my phone facedown and went to sleep.
Or tried to.
By Sunday morning, the message was still there, sitting beneath Every time, and together the two texts looked like the beginning of a conversation I had wanted for years. That should have made me happy. Instead, it terrified me.
I was brushing my teeth when Sophia
