I read the alarm bell as a sign that I was not over Santiago, when in fact it was a sign that I was standing next to him.

I have thought a great deal since about how often we do this, how often the truest thing we feel gets filed under our own brokenness because we lack the story that would make sense of it.

My instinct was right the entire time.

I just could not imagine the crime that would have made it right.

Chapter 5 — I Refuse to Be a Shadow

When he first told me he had feelings for me, I turned him down.