sit down. To greet her with a hug or a kiss, or something. She waited. No
invitation came. Kiera made sure that her expression gave nothing away.
Romi hated that obviously practiced careful blankness. She hated that she
was being shut out. Again.
“Kiera…” She reached out, but she let her hand fall away. Even though
Kiera didn’t step back or dodge her touch, her eyes flashed and it was
obvious that she couldn’t take it.
Her mask fell away then and her face crumpled. Tears pooled in Kiera’s
eyes and slipped out the corners to track down her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I
couldn’t do it. I did kind of talk to them and I just know they’re not going to
be open to talking about this. They’re not going to accept that I’m a lesbian.
Not now. Not ever. I’m too afraid of losing them. Even if I don’t lose them
for good, I know things will be different forever, and I’m sorry, but I can’t
live that way either.”
“So you’ll just keep lying to them?” Romi tried to keep the edge out of
her voice, but it was there. She winced when Kiera did, because she could
tell how much her words hurt her.
“I don’t know. I just know that I can’t tell them. I’m not ready yet. I
know that it’s not fair to you. I don’t know when I’ll be ready. I can’t meet
your family when I still haven’t told mine. I feel like that would be lying
too, and even if it’s not, it would be so unfair. Maybe it’s not about being
brave or about courage. I honestly don’t know what it’s about.”
“We can talk about it.” Romi felt strange. Like her legs were quivering
and would give out at any second. She felt sick. Hopeless. Like there was
something compressing her ribs into her backbone so that her chest
threatened to collapse.
/> “No. We can’t. I don’t think it’s going to help.”
“So you’ve already made up your mind.”
“Yes.” Kiera’s jaw ticked. A vein throbbed violently at her temple,
standing out in stark contrast against her pale skin.