"No," I deny. "But it shows that I'm willing to do concrete things. Not speeches."
The wind moves her hair and for a second I forget everything I should say next.
Because the truth is not elegant. The truth is raw.
"Vanessa is not the problem," she finally says, and her voice no longer sounds curt, it sounds honest.
I frown.
"Then what is it?"
She holds my gaze. It does not dodge. She does not protect herself.
"That feeling I used to have... if I am not enough."
The phrase hits me harder than any accusation.
Because it was never my intention to make her feel that way.
But the intention does not change the effect.
"You were never insufficient," I reply, almost automatically.
She bows her head slightly.
"But I felt that way."
And therein lies my mistake. Not in what I did only.
