Page 93 of The Prime-Time Experiment

“If you go quiet now, if you step back completely, she’s not going to see that as patience,” Leanne continued. “She’s going to see it as confirmation.”

“Confirmation?” he asked.

“That you were temporary,” Leanne said gently. “That you’ve already moved on. That what she felt wasn’t… enough to keep you. I felt like that with your dad, after what I experienced.”

Declan’s chest tightened sharply. “No,” he said immediately. “That’s not—”

“I know it’s not,” Leanne cut in softly. “But that’s not how she’ll read it.”

The words settled, heavy and immovable.

“You don’t need to chase her,” Leanne went on, her voice steady, grounded. “But you do need to show her you’re still there.”

Declan frowned slightly. “How?”

“You meet her where she is. You give her space, but you don’t disappear from it. You make it clear you’re not going anywhere,” she paused, then added more quietly, “Because she needs to know she’s worth staying for.”

Declan swallowed, something shifting into place in his chest. It didn’t ease the ache, but it gave it direction. Something he could act on instead of just feel.

Leanne watched him for a moment longer before adding, softer now, “And it’s not just about you.”

Declan’s brow pulled slightly.

“She’s good for Ebony,” Leanne said. “You saw that.”

He had. The way she lit up around Riley. The way she settled, like she didn’t have to translate herself to be understood.

Leanne smiled faintly. “Our girl hasn’t had many people who understand her like that,” she said. “Riley understands.”

Her gaze held his, unwavering.

“I want Riley here. Not just because of you. But because she belongs in our family. She deserves our family.”

Declan exhaled slowly, his hand dragging down over his face again as everything settled into something clearer, something more defined.

He gave her space, because he’d thought respecting her choices was the same thing as loving her properly. But space wasn’t the same as disappearing, and loving Riley from a distance meant nothing if he let her keep carrying all of this alone just because she thought she had to. Loving her didn’t mean pushing past her boundaries or forcing her into something she wasn’t ready for, but it also didn’t mean standing still while she convinced herself she had to lose people in order to protect them.

Declan straightened slightly, his posture grounding with the decision.

He loved her, and for the first time since she’d left, that truth felt less like grief and more like direction.

“Okay,” he said quietly.

He caught the shift in his mum’s expression in his peripheral vision, softer now, steadier somehow.

“That’s my boy,” she said gently.

Declan barely heard her, he was already reaching for his keys, movement replacing hesitation before he could second-guess himself.

He wasn’t going to chase Riley in the sense of cornering her or demanding something from her she couldn’t give. But he was going to make sure she knew she wasn’t alone in this anymore, that she didn’t have to keep leaving first just to protect the people she loved.

The door closed quietly behind him. And this time, instead of waiting for Riley to come back, Declan finally moved toward her.

Chapter 20

Declan

Declan spent the entire drive reminding himself what his mother said. He wasn’t doing this to chase Riley. If anything, trying to force his way through whatever was happening would only prove every reason she had for pulling away in the first place. Disappearing wasn’t the answer either. The whole point had been to show her he was still here.