Updated Feb 20, 2026 • ~9 min read
WESTLEY
She was sitting next to me. Carmen was sitting next to me.
For five years I’d imagined this moment, rehearsed what I’d say, how I’d react. In my head, I was angry, demanding. I’d ask her how she could do this to me. But now that she was here, all I felt was grateful. Grateful she was alive. Grateful she was sitting next to me. Grateful for this chance.
“You look different,” I said.
She flinched slightly. “Different how?”
“I don’t know. Calmer maybe? Less… stressed.”
She laughed, but it sounded hollow. “Is that a compliment?”
“I think so?” I was stumbling over my words like an idiot. “You look good, Carmen. Really good.”
She wasn’t looking at me. She was staring at her hands, fidgeting with her fingers. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “For disappearing. For not explaining.”
My chest tightened. “What happened? Why did you run?”
LUCIA
Think, Lucia. Think. I needed to tell him the truth, but he was looking at me with so much hope and I didn’t want to destroy that. Not yet. Not when I’ve never had someone look at me like this.
“I was scared,” I heard myself say. It wasn’t a lie—Carmen was scared when she went into witness protection.
“Scared of what? Of me?”
“No. Not of you.” That was true too. Carmen loved West. She ran to protect him, not because of him.
“Then what?”
How do I explain without explaining? “Everything was happening so fast,” I said carefully. “The wedding. The plans. Everyone had expectations and I just—I couldn’t breathe.”
West shifted on the bench. “You could have talked to me. We could have postponed. Eloped. Anything. You didn’t have to vanish.”
“I know.” My throat was tight. “I know I hurt you and I’m sorry.”
WESTLEY
She was apologizing. Carmen was actually apologizing. The Carmen I knew didn’t apologize. She was confident, certain. She knew what she wanted and she went for it. This woman sitting next to me seemed fragile, like she might shatter if I pushed too hard.
“Where have you been?” I asked gently. “Your parents were frantic. They filed a missing persons report. The police investigated.”
She paled. “The police?”
“Of course the police. Carmen, you disappeared the night before your wedding. We thought you’d been kidnapped. Or worse.”
She was shaking now, visibly shaking. I reached for her hand without thinking. She jerked back like I’d burned her.
“Sorry,” I pulled my hand away quickly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s okay,” she said, but her voice was strained. “I’m just… I’m not used to…”
She trailed off. Not used to what? Touch? Affection? What happened to her in the last five years?
LUCIA
His hand. He tried to hold my hand. And I panicked. Because West holding my hand isn’t wrong because we broke up—it’s wrong because I’m not Carmen.
I needed to end this. Right now.
“West,” I started.
“Are you in trouble?” he asked suddenly. “Is that why you ran? Are you in some kind of danger?”
Oh god. He was so close to the truth it was terrifying. Carmen was in danger—that’s why she’s in witness protection. But I couldn’t tell him that.
“No,” I said. “I’m not in danger. I’m safe. I promise.”
He studied my face like he was trying to read my thoughts. “Then why won’t you come home? Why are you working at a coffee shop instead of living your life?”
“This is my life now.”
“But why?”
Because I’m not Carmen. Because Carmen can’t come home. Because you’re asking the wrong twin.
“I needed a fresh start,” I said instead. “A clean slate. No one knowing who I was or what I left behind.”
“What about the people you left behind? What about your family? Your friends?” He paused. “What about me?”
WESTLEY
She looked like she might cry. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry, West.”
“I don’t want an apology. I want to understand. Did you ever love me? Or was it all a mistake?”
She turned to me then, really looked at me. And there was something in her eyes I didn’t recognize, something desperate.
“It wasn’t a mistake,” she said firmly. “You weren’t a mistake.”
“Then come back,” I heard myself say. “Come home. We can figure this out together. We can start over.”
LUCIA
No. No, no, no. This was spiraling. He wanted Carmen back. He wanted a relationship. He wanted to start over. And I was sitting here pretending to be someone I’m not.
“I can’t,” I said.
“Why not?”
“Because it’s complicated.”
“Then uncomplicate it. Talk to me, Carmen. Please.”
Every time he said her name it was like a knife.
“I need time,” I blurted out. “I need… I need to think.”
He nodded slowly. “Okay. Okay, I can give you time. But can I see you again? Tomorrow maybe?”
“West—”
“Please. Just coffee. Just talking. I won’t push. I just—I can’t lose you again.”
I should say no. I should tell him the truth right now. But he was looking at me like I was precious, like I mattered. And I’d never felt that before.
“Okay,” I whispered. “Tomorrow.”
WESTLEY
Relief flooded through me. “Same time? Same place?”
She nodded. “Four o’clock. Here.”
“I’ll be here.”
We sat in silence for a moment before I ventured, “Can I ask you something?”
“Okay.”
“Do you hate me? For whatever I did that made you run?”
She looked stunned. “I don’t hate you, West. I could never hate you.”
Something in the way she said it made my heart skip. Like she meant it. Really meant it.
“I should go,” she said, standing abruptly.
I stood too. “Can I walk you home?”
“No.” Too quick. Too sharp. “I mean, I’m good. I live close.”
She was lying. I could tell she was lying. But I didn’t push.
“Tomorrow then.”
“Tomorrow,” she echoed.
She started to walk away, then stopped and turned back. “West?”
“Yeah?”
“I really am sorry. For everything.”
And then she was gone.
I watched her disappear down the sidewalk. My phone buzzed—my mom again. This time I answered.
“Hey Mom.”
“Westley, thank god. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Why?”
“You haven’t called all week and you know I worry—”
“Mom, I found her.”
Silence. “Found who?”
“Carmen. I found Carmen.”
LUCIA
I made it three blocks before I had to stop, lean against a building, and try to breathe. What was I doing? What the hell was I doing?
My phone rang. Carmen. Perfect timing.
“Hey,” I answered, trying to sound normal.
“You sound weird. What’s wrong?”
Everything. Everything was wrong.
“Nothing. Just tired from work.”
“Liar. I can always tell when you’re lying.”
Can she though? Because I’ve been lying for the past two hours and she has no idea.
“I ran into someone today,” I said carefully. “Someone from your past.”
Silence. Then: “Who?”
“West.”
The line went so quiet I thought she’d hung up.
“Carmen?”
“Is he okay?” Her voice was small. Broken.
“He’s been looking for you. He’s been worried sick.”
“Shit. Shit. Did you tell him? Did you explain?”
I closed my eyes. “No.”
“What do you mean no?”
“I mean he thought I was you and I… I didn’t correct him.”
“LUCIA.”
“I know. I know it’s bad. But he was so relieved to see ‘you’ and I couldn’t—I didn’t know how to—”
“You need to tell him. Right now. Call him and tell him.”
“I’m meeting him tomorrow. I’ll tell him then.”
“TOMORROW? Lucia, this isn’t a game. This is my life. My ex-fiancé who I had to leave without explanation because I was put in witness protection.”
“I know.”
“Do you? Because it sounds like you’re playing pretend with a man who’s been traumatized.”
She was right. She was absolutely right. I was the worst person in the world.
“I’ll fix it,” I promised. “Tomorrow I’ll tell him everything.”
“You better. God, Lucia. What were you thinking?”
I wasn’t thinking. That was the problem. I was feeling. And I hadn’t let myself feel anything in so long.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
She sighed. “Just tell him the truth. Please. He deserves that much.”
“I will. I promise.”
We hung up. I stared at my phone. Tomorrow. Tomorrow I’ll tell West the truth. Tomorrow I’ll watch him realize I’m not Carmen. Tomorrow I’ll lose the only person who’s ever looked at me like I matter.
WESTLEY
My mom was talking but I was barely listening.
“—and you’re sure it was her? What if it’s a trick? What if—”
“Mom, I know what Carmen looks like. It was her.”
“What did she say? Why did she leave? Is she coming home?”
“I don’t know yet. We’re meeting again tomorrow.”
“Oh, Westley. Be careful, honey. She hurt you so badly.”
She did. Carmen destroyed me when she left. I couldn’t eat. Couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t function. It took months to even start feeling normal again. And now she was back. And all I wanted was to protect her, to understand her, to have another chance.
“I’ll be careful,” I told my mom. But I was lying.
I was going to do whatever it takes to get Carmen back. Whatever it takes to understand what happened. Whatever it takes to make her trust me again.
“I have to go,” I said. “I’ll call you after we talk tomorrow.”
“I love you, sweetheart.”
“Love you too, Mom.”
I hung up, sat in my car, and stared at the park bench where Carmen and I had just sat. Tomorrow couldn’t come fast enough. And I had no idea that the woman I was falling for all over again isn’t the woman I thought she was.
No idea at all.
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