Two months later

“Hey.”
“Hey.”
Nate lit a cigarette.
I smiled.
Almost like before.
“Yeah.”
“How’s Caleb?”
“He figured it was time to move on.”
Nate gave a faint smirk.
My eyes filled with tears.
“And you?”
“I’m fine.”
I let out a soft laugh.
“That’s not how you talk about love.”
“She’s… good.”
I nodded.
We walked in silence.
“Are you going to marry her?”
“I don’t know yet.”
I laughed again.
“Nate, that doesn’t sound like love.”
“It isn’t.”
For a second, I thought I’d misheard him.
I stopped right there, in the middle of the woods.
Nate noticed I’d fallen behind.
“What’s wrong?”
“What did you say?”
“I said it’s not love.”
My legs started shaking.
I thought I might faint.
I was exhausted… all of this love had drained me.
“Nate!”
“What? You know it too.”
I waved him off.
“Go to hell.”
He stepped closer and kissed me deeply.
“Well? What do you say?”
I laughed.
“What do you want to hear?”
“That you love me too.”
I burst out laughing.
“You’re an idiot.
I love Caleb.”
“Sweetheart…”
He lowered his gaze.
“But he’s not here.”
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The tears started falling, one after another.
“Right.”
“Damn right.”