Landon & Shay: Part Two (L&S Duet, #2)

by Brittainy C. Cherry

“You wear your hair long; they’ll tell you to cut it. You wear it short; they’ll tell you to grow it out. You lose weight; they’ll tell you you’re too skinny, yet if you gain weight, they’ll call you fat. Trust me when I say, there are no happily ever afters when you’re living your life based on others’ opinions.

“That’s what we both do for one another. We make each other better without even trying. That’s what love is, I think. Love is feeling healed whenever you’re near your person.”

The problem with wearing the masks was that when you wore them for too long, they would begin to crack. After the masks cracked, they eventually shattered, and when mine shattered, she’d be left with my mess.

I knew when people say you don’t have to hold on to them, that’s when you need to hold on the most.

I hadn’t known you could miss someone so much even when they were standing right in front of you.

He called me his remedy, his safe haven, his freedom, but he was the opposite of that to me. He was my weakness, my kryptonite, my gated cage. While I lifted him up, he weighed me down. It confused me how love could feel so much like a war. While Landon was becoming victorious, I was dying on the battlefield. This isn’t love, I thought to myself. This was an addiction, an infectious disease that was going to leave me raw and broken—

When had that happened? When had he stopped letting me in? This wasn’t who we’d been. This wasn’t the love story we’d created. This was a completely different, twisted love that I didn’t recognize anymore. I couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t hold him because he was broken. I couldn’t protect his heart while giving him the freedom to crush mine. I couldn’t save him while surrendering myself. I refused to be his sacrifice when he refused to let me in.

It took me a long time to realize that darkness could be beautiful, too. So many beautiful things lived in the shadows, and it was our duty to be kind enough to them and to remind them that they, too, belonged.

“A safe place. You don’t have to say what you think people expect you to with me. You don’t have to lie to try to protect my feelings. Okay? I’m your safe place. You can trust me. No lies here. Only truths.”

“I would’ve taken our hard days over happy days with any other person in this world.”

I am promising you I’ll put in the work to make you happy. To make myself happy. To make us happy.