But now, Lena missed the small things. Chloe’s silly voice notes. The inside jokes about their terrible coffee shop boss. The way Chloe would send her a single 🦩 emoji when she was thinking of her.
The next afternoon, Lena took a breath and typed a simple text. “Hey. I unblocked you today. I’m not ready to talk about what happened yet, but I wanted you to know the door isn’t locked anymore. Hope you’re okay.” She almost deleted it. But she hit send.
Mateo shrugged. “Then you’ll know. And knowing is better than this ‘maybe’ that’s eating you up.”
Lena let out a shaky breath. She didn’t reply right away. She just smiled at her phone, feeling the hard knot in her chest begin to loosen.
Three dots appeared. Then disappeared. Then appeared again.
That night, Lena decided to try. But she didn’t want to rush. She made a small plan.