Come sit with me.
Not tomorrow.
Not after we cool off.
Not after somebody texts first.
Now.
Leave the phone over there.
Turn the TV off.
The world has enough of our attention.
Tonight…
I just want yours.
Sit here.
Close enough…
So I can hear your breathing.
Because lately…
I’ve been listening to silence…
More than I’ve been listening to you.
Tell me the truth.
Not the version…
That makes you look innocent.
The real one.
The one that keeps you awake at night.
I’ll do the same.
No interruptions.
No eye rolls.
No walking away.
Just…
Two people…
Trying to remember…
How they became strangers.
You know what hurts?
It isn’t the arguing.
It’s realizing…
I don’t know what you’re carrying anymore.
I don’t know what made you cry this week.
I don’t know what’s been weighing on your heart.
And somewhere…
You stopped knowing mine too.
That’s not love failing.
That’s communication starving.
Tell me…
When did I stop feeling safe to you?
When did you stop believing…
You could bring me your fears…
Without me trying to fix them?
When did I become…
Someone you had to defend yourself from…
Instead of someone…
Who was supposed to defend you?
I’ve been asking myself that.
Every night.
Maybe I failed you.
Maybe I got comfortable.
Maybe I stopped watering…
The very thing…
I was praying would grow.
If I did…
I’m sorry.
Not because saying it is easy.
Because swallowing my pride…
Is easier than swallowing life without you.
Now…
Can I ask you something?
Just one thing.
Don’t answer fast.
Let it sit.
Have I been the only one apologizing…
For things we both broke?
Every time we fall apart…
I search myself first.
I replay conversations.
I question my tone.
I wonder what I could’ve done better.
Do you?
Or is every problem…
Something I created…
And you’re forced to survive?
Because if that’s true…
Tell me.
If I’m the storm…
I’ll leave.
I’d rather break my own heart…
Than keep breaking yours.
But if I’m not…
Then meet me in the truth.
Not halfway.
The whole truth.
Because love can’t heal…
What honesty keeps hiding.
I don’t need perfection.
I need accountability.
Not so I can win.
So we can stop losing.
See…
“I was hurt…”
Can be true.
And…
“I hurt you…”
Can be true too.
Those two things…
Can live in the same room.
But only if pride…
Walks out first.
Look at me.
Really look at me.
Do you still see…
The man who stayed?
The man who kept choosing us…
Even on the days…
You made it difficult?
Or do you only see…
Every mistake I’ve ever made…
Standing in front of you?
Because that’s the hardest prison…
Trying to become better…
For someone…
Who only remembers…
Who you used to be.
I came here tonight…
Ready to own my part.
I emptied my pockets.
My ego.
My excuses.
My defenses.
I laid them all…
Right here between us.
I thought…
You would too.
Instead…
You picked them up…
One by one…
And handed them back to me.
“This is your fault.”
“You made me do this.”
“If you would’ve…”
“If you hadn’t…”
The conversation ended…
Before it ever began.
Funny…
How two people…
Can tell the truth…
And only one of them…
Be willing to hear it.
So I’ll ask you…
One last question.
If accountability…
Feels like losing to you…
How will love…
Ever win?
…
You got up.
Walked away.
The room got quiet again.
The TV stayed off.
The phones never rang.
But somehow…
The loudest thing I heard…
Was the sound…
Of a heart…
Still talking…
To someone…
Who stopped listening.
