Every word she says settles in my soul, building something new around the soft, damaged parts of my heart that have felt unlovable for too long. Around the version of me at ten, fifteen, eighteen, now, who watched his dad choose not to love him, who watched women take advantage of his desperation to be loved… who broke himself time and again. I hear the words she doesn’t say, too: I will not abandon you. Your heart is safe with me. No games.
