Chapter 7
the garden until nightfall, finaly managing to piece briself back together.]]
When the walked back into the house, she fo
house, she found to passed out on the much–Jake and Ryan had already len
He was completely hammered, mumbling Harper’s name over and over in his sleep
Elians batened quietly, then pulled et the scorecard and crossed off another 5 points|||
Instead of taking care of him like the always dit, she started packing
( gihu Müo had given her, photos of hors she’d treared, the matching coffee tags and slippers she’d bought for them.
Everything connected to him went straight into trash bags ||
she worked through the night, systematically erasing three years of her life. When Milo woke up the next morning, half the thing room was empty
“When did you get out of the hospital? Why is half our stuff gone?”|||
Last night. Couldn’t sleep, so I got rid of some chatter we don’t use anymore. ||
Hearing her fat response, Mile locked around clearly confused. “Det use? All this stuff–how d
Chaba was about të aniver when his phone buzzed.
lo, do you have time to come with me to my follow–up appointment today?”
do we not use ?]
Hemmedately perked up. Yeah, of course.” he jumped up to shower and rushed out without another word.[]
Watching him disappear through the door, Elans quietly finished his sentence: “Because I’m done pretending any of this was real”
Oret the next few days. Min was a ghost. But through Harper’s constant instagram stories, hann saw them everywhere–shopping on Fifth Avenue, dinner at trendy spots, movies in Times Square.
She felt nothing she stayed laser focused on packing, shipping h
her real belongings to LA piece by piece
On the anniversary of her father’s death, she dressed in black and ordered flowers, about to leave when Milo walked in.
“Today’s Profesor Harr’s memorial day. Til drive you to the cemetery.“|||
They’d door this together every year. Eliana didn’t bother refusing and got in his car []
The Grave was dead sent ||
At Woodlawn Cemetery, they each stood before the granite headstone.)
Leaking at her father’s kind and in the engraved photo, Eliana knelt down and spoke from her heart.]),
The divorcing Mio and moving to LA to build my fashion company. I know you’d be prood of me for finally choosing myself. You worried about me so much before you died–that’s the only reason you asked Mido to look after me. But I don’t need locking after anymore. I’m done being stuall, done being grateful for scraps of affection de tyng to earn kone that was never mine tu carn. I’m going to build something beautiful with my mum hands, and I’m going to be amazing at it. I’m going to reisember who I was before I lost myself trying to be enough for someone who was never available.“]
Hrs words carried a ferre determinatur
surpraed even her Aller three years of quiet suffering, she was finally doop.
After sharing her truth with her father, rais started falling.
They headed down the mountain without lingering
On the drive luck, maybe noticing her usual calm, Maloted to reach out
“I know todayy always hard for you buat j
- ow. I’m here for you if you need to talk through anything, you know you can tell me
Tina aboost laugland. Her for her? When had he ever actually been here?)
She took a hrvath, admit to finally say what needed saying, schiens las phone exploded with sund
“Mr. Blake, energencyi Ms. Lannux was in a cat necident–ater a is the rurigid now |||
change in sea was instant and betale med the bike shard Flamas seatbelt cut its her chrest ||
“Cliana, you’ll have to get yourself lunte |
dned by,
The panics has voice–pank he’d never shown for her, not even when she’d been crudied by a chandeber–was the final ruk in the coffin
cinty oprant the car deur.” “Of course I will”
ste stood in the rain with her unbrella, watchi
Trila disappear into the distance, and felt the last piece of her heart that had belonged to then simp
simply stop…
Singer. No tears. post pure, crystaline cartry
seemed her phone to call an Uber, but the wund picked up violently, turning her unbrella inside out
She struggled to control i, head downs against the driving ram, and never saw the sedan that had been trying to navigate around Man’s abandoned car
The impact set her flying across the wet asphalt |||
Lam pounded her face as blood pooled beneath her, but even as consciousness spped away, her last coherent thought wasn’t about Mila.
It was about the fashion studio waking for her in LA, and how she never get to see what she could have become.
Net dat she hope he’d come back for her.
she was finally, completely done hoping for Mo Binke.||
