“Yes, I ran away. And I know now that it was absolutely the wrong thing to do. I should have talked to you. Sat down and expressed my fears…”

“You said that you weren’t happy…” Bo’s voice trailed off slightly.

“I know, and I wasn’t with some parts of our relationship. But I should have given you an opportunity to alleviate some of those fears.”

“Okay.” Bo’s hand was moving to an unheard rhythm, bouncing slightly up and down. Something that Lauren hadn’t seen her do before, and she could only put it down to the vulnerability that she was feeling in the current situation. “So you’re admitting that you were wrong?”

“Yes. If I could change it Bo, I would.” A look of exasperation crossed Lauren’s face as she spoke the words.

“But you can’t… you can’t change it.”

Lauren sighed, “I know… but maybe we can work through this?” She took a step towards Bo, shortening the distance between them.

“How?”

“Bo, my heart was breaking too. With everything that we’d been through… when Tamsin told me that you kissed her…”

“What?”

“Tamsin told me that you kissed her, and that it was nothing to do with feeding.”

Bo’s mouth dropped open, and her eyebrows knitted into an angry frown, “That little…” she paused, and softened her expression.  “Lauren, you believed her? You didn’t even ask me?”

“Bo, I was so tired, and hurt… physically, mentally, emotionally. I wasn’t thinking clearly… and by the time that I was… things had moved on… we’d moved on. It never felt right. But it was wrong to ignore it.”

“You bet your life it was! Tamsin was completely spinning a situation to get a reaction from you! You should know better than that! You should know me better than that!”

Lauren let a tear roll down her cheek. “I’m sorry, Bo… The truth is that I couldn’t stand to lose you. Not to anyone or anything. My heart was completely devastated just by the thought that someone else had a piece of yours. I was losing my mind in the what ifs and other people’s toxic whispers.”

There was a silence as the two women just looked at each other. Both witnessing the pain and vulnerability that was before them.