Page 173 of Homewrecker

“You have to tell him.”

“I know.”

“But listen.”

Klair turned toward me. “Don’t tell him because you think you owe him some confession like you’re standing before a fucking judge.”

I frowned.

“Tell him because you’re trying to build something honest. You don’t need to sit there calling yourself names before he gets the opportunity to react. You don’t need to convince him you’re terrible so if he rejects you, you can say you were right. And don’t minimize it either.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“I know. Tell him what happened. Tell him what you did. Tell him what you learned. Then shut the fuck up.”

I laughed. “That’s your advice?”

“Yes.”

“Shut the fuck up?”

“Absolutely.”

She leaned closer. “You have a bad habit of overexplaining when you’re nervous.”

“I do not.”

“You do. Let that man process.”

My stomach twisted. “And if he says he can’t do it?”

Klair shrugged. “Then he can’t.”

“You make that sound easy.”

“It won’t be. You’ll probably be hurt as fuck. You might cry. You might question yourself. You might come over here and lay on my couch for three days eating my groceries. But you’ll survive.”

She nudged my knee again. “You survived Caleb.”

I said nothing.

“You survived losing your friends.”

My throat tightened.

“You survived people talking about you.”

I nodded.

“You survived rebuilding your business.”

Another nod.

“You survived having to look at yourself and admit you were wrong… So if Nash decides your history is too close to his hurt for him to continue, you’ll survive that too.”

I blinked away tears.

“And it won’t mean you’re unlovable.”