Chapter 10
Callie’s POV
On the morning of my thirtieth birthday, I found a letter on the kitchen table that ended with seven words:>>
“I wish it was you who died.”>
It was written in pencil, on lined notebook paper, folded twice and tucked under the edge of my coffee mug like a gift. It was from my daughter.
Not by blood. Not legally adopted. Not even fully mine.
Sophie Hale. My niece. My sister’s child. The reason I stood in this kitchen every day, cooking, cleaning, pretending.
The reason I married her father.
The house was still and clean. It always was, like it was afraid to get too comfortable. Marcus had already left for work. Sophie had already left for school. No one said happy birthday. No one even said goodbye.
I unfolded the letter slowly, thinking maybe it was something sweet. Something small and soft to make the morning feel like something other than a countdown clock.
But Sophie doesn’t do soft. Not with me.
To Callie,
From Sophie.§
You talk like her, but you’re not her.
You wear her perfume. That’s gross.
-You always act like everything’s okay when it’s not.
– You look at Dad like you love him, but he doesn’t look at you.
– You make me feel weird.}
-You’re pretending to be my mom, and it’s disgusting.
-You’ll never be her.
-I wish it was you who died.
My hand didn’t shake.
It should have. Normal people shake when they read things like that. But I just sat there with the paper open, staring at Sophie’s tiny, slanted handwriting like it was a grocery list.
I folded it back up and placed it under my coffee mug.
Then I got up and washed the dishes from the breakfast I hadn’t eaten.
It wasn’t the first time she’d said things that cut. But it was the first time she wrote it down. Like it needed to be official.
She was grieving. Still. Maybe always. She just didn’t have the words for it. So she used the ones that hurt.
And me? I was just the body that stayed behind when her mother’s heart stopped beating.
Five years earlier, Isabelle asked me to be her ghost.
We were in her hospital room, second–to–last week. The air smelled like disinfectant and something warm and stale underneath.
She was down to ninety–two pounds. Couldn’t sit up without help. But her mind was sharp, and her voice still had that quiet steel in it.
“Marry Marcus,” she said, like she was asking me to run to the store.
“What?”
“You heard me.“!
“That’s not funny.“}
“It’s not a joke.” She looked at me like I was being slow. “Sophie needs someone. Someone who won’t leave. Someone she already knows.”
My throat locked up. “I’m not her mother, Izzy.”
“You could be close enough. You’re the only person I trust not to break her.”
I laughed. But Isabelle didn’t smile. She reached out, her hand cold and bony, and gripped my wrist.§
“She doesn’t need another mom. She needs a shield, Be that.”
I nodded because it was the only thing I could do without falling apart. Because she was dying. Because she asked.
Because I loved her.”
That was the last real thing we said to each other. Two weeks later, she was gone.
Three months after that, I wore her wedding ring.
In the beginning, it didn’t feel real. Marcus and I signed the license at city hall. No vows. No ceremony. Just legal boxes and silence. He didn’t look at me like a husband looks at a wife.
He looked at me like a surgeon might look at a nurse he trusts–necessary, functional, capable. But not someone he’d stay up late thinking about.
11:14 AM
“Too bad,” she said, not looking at me.”
It stung more than it should have.
I stepped toward the door.”
“You can be angry,” I said, back to her. “But you don’t get to destroy everything and expect nothing to break back.“}
She didn’t respond.
I closed the door behind me.
Later that night, I sat on the stairs, holding the broken bracelet in my hand, pressing the sharp edge of the chain between my fingers like it could keep me grounded.”
The house was too quiet again.
Upstairs, Sophie’s light was still on. She hadn’t come down. Marcus wasn’t home yet, probably caught in another surgery or sleeping in the on–call room to avoid all this.
When the front door finally opened after midnight, I didn’t look up right away.
I heard him pause, see me on the stairs.
“What are you doing up?“>
“Thinking.”}
He stepped inside, set his bag down gently, like he didn’t want to wake something.
“She broke it,” I said after a beat, holding out the bracelet.
He took it from me, brows tightening.
“The bracelet my dad gave me.“}
He looked at me like he wasn’t sure what to say. Then: “Why?”
“She’s angry,” I said.”
He nodded slowly, jaw tight. “She’s still a kid.“@
“I know. But that doesn’t mean she gets to treat people like trash.“>
That came out sharper than I meant.
He handed the bracelet back. “I’ll talk to her.”@
“Don’t.”
He blinked. “Why not?”
“Because it’s not about the bracelet.”
He was quiet.
“She doesn’t hate me,” I said. “Not really. She hates that I’m still here.”
Marcus looked tired. But underneath it, I saw something else. Guilt maybe. Or fear. Or both.
“I made a promise,” I said, meeting his eyes. “To Isabelle. To you. To her. I’ve tried to hold this family together, Marcus, but it’s falling apart anyway.”
He sat on the bottom step beside me, careful to leave space between us.
“What do you want from me, Callie?” he asked.}}
I wanted to say everything.”
But I just shook my head.
“I want a break.”
30
