“I’m not your friend,” he said gently, with the exhaustion of someone tired of explaining the obvious. Her eyes filled. This was it. This was how she lost him. “Nathan, please don’t—” He stepped back. “I can’t do this. I can’t be around you and not…” He looked at her, finally, and took a deep, ragged breath. “I love you. I’m so in love with you, but I don’t know how to be in love with you.” There was no joy in his confession, only anguish. Like it was a sickness without a cure.
