Dear Rosie, (Love Letters #2)

Still kneeling on the ground, Nathan reaches up and zips the duffel closed.

“Why did you bring so much?” I ask, looking at the bag.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” We’re both whispering.

When I lift my eyes to meet his, I know he’s talking about the letters.

A weary sort of heaviness settles around me. “There was no point.”

“No point?” He jerks back. “You don’t think I’d want to know?”

“I knew you would. But all that stuff.” I lift a hand to gesture at the box. “It was a long time ago.”

Nathan holds my gaze. “It was hours ago.”

The pain and rage in his expression presses against my chest.

“This is why I didn’t tell you.” I lift my hand to his face and trace the side of his mouth. “I never wanted to make you feel like… this.”

EIGHTY-THREE

NATE

I never wanted to make you feel like this.

I close my eyes and lean into her soft touch.

“Rosie.” Her name comes out gruff.

“I didn’t want to tell you because it’s all done.” Her hand slips away, and she sets it in her lap. “And even if you’d never moved away, my home life wouldn’t have changed. None of that was your fault.”

“It would have changed!” I say it like I believe it. “I would’ve… Rosie, if I’d known he…” I have to swallow. “I would’ve done something. If I’d have known he was hurting you, I would have done something.”

Her breath hitches at my words, and tears trail down her cheeks. “I was never your problem. Please don’t take this on.”

I was never your problem.

And it hits me.

The truth of it.

Rosie’s never had anyone to trust.

Her mom might have treated her okay, but she died when Rosie was young.

Died and left her with a monster.

Then I left. And from the letters she wrote, that left her with no one.

That thick taste of guilt coats my tongue.

I came back.

I found her again.

But I’ve been acting like nothing changed between us. Except everything changed.

I’m not a kid anymore. And Rosie stopped being a kid long before me.