“But Luce, I need you to promise me something,” he said, his face wrinkling. “If I ever mess things up again, whether it’s a misunderstanding, or shit luck, or I just do what I was created to do and screw everything up”—he paused, exhaling—“I want you to promise me you’ll leave. Drop me like a bad habit and don’t look back, because God knows, it can’t be me who walks away, since I’m incapable of it.”