Chapter 10. The Weight of Unspoken Love

My mom stood from her seat. “Oh, sweetheart,” she whispered. She rounded the island and silently opened her arms to me.

I fell into her embrace with a pathetic whimper, blinking furiously to try to keep my panicked tears at bay. But the longer I sat there trying not to cry, the more heavily the tears fell.

After a minute of sitting in my mother’s hold, she leaned back and framed my face with her hands. “Why are you crying, sweetheart?”

It was a great question. Why was I crying? Shouldn’t I be happy? Love was supposed to be a good thing, right? So why did I feel so panicked?

I sniffled and shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know. Just scared, I think. This is the first time I’ve admitted my…my feelings for Ace out loud. And I’m scared of how strong they are. I never realized… I thought it was just a stupid crush.”

My mom nodded. “The sort of love you and Ace share for each other is extremely special. It’s okay to feel overwhelmed. But this has been a long t