Oliver nods a farewell, and it feels like a farewell, and I panic when he steps out the front door. My voice betrays me as one hand clamps around the doorframe, holding me back. “We’re okay, right?” He promised. Oliver spins toward me as he walks down my stony pathway, still pacing backwards across the lawn. “Of course.” My desperate smile is matched by his smile of concession. And as I clutch the lotus flower to my chest, I have no idea why that hurts so much.
