Sarah Dawson Powell

Emma

There is no future for us. We let this lie live for too long, let it feel so real that even we believed it.

I’m tired of living two lives, not really knowing who I am, and believing River can be someone he can’t.

This is it. It’s time for us to move on, count our losses and figure out what life apart looks like.

Even as I speak the words and tell River it’s the way it must be, I can’t help but wonder if I will ever find someone who knows me—knows my mind, my secrets, my body—as well as he does.

River

Emma is out of her mind. She thinks we can walk away from one another like our lives aren’t so intertwined that I can’t even tell where she ends and I begin.

She is a part of me, the reason I am who I am.

I hear her words and understand her reasons, but I refuse to accept them. When I think about the future, she is there in the starring role, the center of everything, and she is mine.

Emma wants to put a stop to our double life, but it’s impossible. My heart is hers, and if she leaves me, she will take it with her along with all my—our—secrets.