"I can't do that," Warren murmured, looking at her with a face that betrayed exactly how much he was dying inside just then. "You won't let me hold you."

He turned to look down at the ground again.

"And I won't ever be able to accept that it isn't meant to be." Just not then. Not like this. "I can't breathe, Karla. I can't do this right now. Not... not like this."

Not you.