"I make it sound accurate."
"It wasn't that simple."
"It was to me."
That landed the way it needed to.
She held my gaze, searching for something to push against, something that would give her an opening. There was nothing there for her to use.
"Cole," she said, keeping her voice level, "I know how it looked."
"You don't need to explain how it looked. I was there."
"I'm not trying to rewrite it."
"That is exactly what you're doing."
She went still for a second.
"I left," she said. "I know that. I know who I left with and I know what it did. But we weren't in a good place before that happened."
I let her finish.
Then I said, "You don't get to come in here and turn it into something mutual because it's easier to carry that version."
"I'm not doing that."
"You are. You're trying
