Chapter 12 - Camille Finally Explained the Standing
Camille requested one private conversation before formal proceedings began.
Landon agreed with attorneys nearby.
They met in a neutral conference room.
No restaurant.
No bedroom.
No roses.
Camille looked different without the emerald satin dress or public composure. Smaller somehow. Tired.
Landon remained in his wheelchair.
Deliberately.
He did not need to stand for the conversation to matter.
Camille looked at the chair first anyway.
Old habit.
“You can stand now,” she said.
“For short periods.”
“You hid that from me.”
The irony almost made him laugh.
“Yes.”
“You set me up.”
“No. I stopped drinking what you gave me.”
Her face tightened.
Silence.
Then Landon asked the question that had replaced every other one.
“Why did my recovery scare you?”
Camille looked away.
For a long time she did not answer.
Then:
“Because before the accident, you were leaving.”
Not I thought you might.
You were.
Landon stayed quiet.
“You postponed the wedding,” she continued. “You kept talking about needing space. Then the accident happened and suddenly—”
“You were needed.”
Her eyes filled.
“Yes.”
There it was.
Camille had built her identity around being impossible to leave because she was useful.
She managed people.
Solved problems.
Made herself central.
Landon’s accident gave that tendency complete access to his life.
“And when I started getting stronger?”
“You started talking exactly like before.”
“What did I say?”
“That you wanted your own schedule. Your own car. Your own office. That you didn’t want me attending every medical visit.”
Landon almost smiled sadly.
Normal adult autonomy.
To Camille, warning signs.
“I thought if you had more time,” she said, “you’d remember everything I did for you.”
“So you made me weaker.”
“I made you rest.”
“No.”
He didn’t let her soften it.
“You secretly gave me something that impaired my rehabilitation.”
Camille began crying.
“I never wanted permanent harm.”
“I believe you.”
That surprised her.
Then Landon continued:
“You just wanted enough harm to keep me uncertain.”
She closed her eyes.
That was the sentence Travis had used.
May you like
It was also the truth Camille could no longer escape.
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