Jeremy stepped closer. "Maya."
Brielle moved slightly, not in front of me, but beside me.
It was enough.
I set the lunchbox on the security desk.
"Enjoy your lunch," I told him. "It's the last thing I will ever make for you."
Then I walked out of that glass building with my hands shaking and my heart breaking, but my back straight.
Outside, the city was loud and bright. I stood on the sidewalk and took my first full breath in what felt like months.
Brielle came out a minute later.
"I'm sorry," she said again.
I believed her.
"So am I."
We did not hug. We were not friends. Maybe we never would be. But we had both made it out of that elevator with the truth, and sometimes that is enough.
By the time I reached my car, my phone was already buzzing with Jeremy's name.
I turned it off.
