Chapter 15%
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But the moment I read the name on the envelope, something inside me cracked.}
Dad stood in the doorway, caught between guilt and surprise, like he’d walked into a secret that wasn’t his to witness. I clutched the letter tighter. “Did you know about this?” I asked.”
He opened his mouth. Nothing came out.
I didn’t wait for him to find words. I sat on the floor, turned the envelope over, and peeled it open as gently as I could.
It smelled like her. Or maybe that was just in my head.”
The handwriting was familiar, loopy, soft, patient.
I read the first line out loud without meaning to. “Sweetheart, I don’t know who you’ll be when you read this. But I know who you are in my heart…”
Dad stepped closer. I didn’t stop him, but I didn’t invite him either.
“I hope you’re still full of questions. I hope you haven’t let grief steal your wonder. I’m sorry I won’t be there to see you grow up. It’s the hardest truth I’ve had to swallow.”
My voice wobbled. I kept reading, even as my vision blurred.§
“But if you’re reading this, then I want you to know something important. Something that matters more than anything I ever gave you. If Gallie Gallie stays, it’s because she loves you. Let her.“>
My fingers shook.
“She didn’t stay out of duty. I didn’t ask her to carry my heart, I asked her to protect yours. But she loved you long before that.”
Aunt May came into the hallway. She didn’t speak. She just sat beside me, listening like the words were her own.
“I know she’s not me. She’s better than me in all the ways I wasn’t brave enough to be. She won’t say this out loud, but she’s always been afraid you’d never love her back. So if you do… don’t make her guess.”
I pressed the letter to my chest. “I need her,” I whispered.”
No one said a thing.
“I want her to come back.“0
Aunt May put her hand on mine. “Then tell her.“}
“I don’t know how.”
“Start with that.”
I looked down. “What if she thinks I only want her because Mom told me to?”
“She won’t.“@
“But what if she does?“}
Aunt May patted my back. “Then tell her the truth. Tell her you miss her. Tell her you chose her, too.”
It got quiet after that.
I stayed in my room most of the day, rereading the letter three more times. I didn’t tell Dad I forgave him. I wasn’t ready. But I also didn’t lock my door.
Aunt May made soup. I didn’t eat much.
I thought about texting Callie. Then I didn’t. Then I started again and deleted it.
What if she didn’t want to come back?}
What if I’d waited too long to say it?}
I was still staring at my phone when the knock came.}
Three fast raps at the front door. Loud. Sharp. Unapologetic.
I jumped.”
Dad was upstairs. Aunt May was in the bath. I padded to the door barefoot, heart thudding.
When I opened it, I froze.
Ava.!
Her hair was a mess. Her eyeliner was smudged halfway down her face. She looked like a bottle had broken inside her.
But what really stopped me was what she held.
An envelope.”
Cream paper. Isabelle’s handwriting.”
The original letter.
The one Ava had stolen.”
“Hi,” she said, smiling like it hurt.”
I didn’t move. Didn’t invite her in.
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11:16 AM
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“Hi,” she said, smiling like it hurt.”
I didn’t move. Didn’t invite her in.
She held up the envelope slowly. “I thought about burning it,” she said. “But then I read it again, and I realized something.”
I looked at the paper in her hand.
“I’m not in this story,” Ava said. “I was never in it.“}
“It was like… she knew what I’d do.“>
She stepped closer.}
“She said things in there that made me feel like a villain in a story I didn’t know I was in.“}
“You were,” I said.”
That made her laugh. Sharp and bitter. “Yeah. I know.“>
I didn’t answer.
She stepped forward, just one step, and held the letter out.
She held the letter out. “Here. I’m done pretending I belonged in any of this.“}
I took it slowly.
She turned to leave but paused on the steps.}
“Oh. Tell Callie,” she looked over her shoulder “the part about ‘always being the one he looked at‘? That wasn’t the real line.“} Iplinked.
She grinned, sad and cruel. “I made that up. Just to see if it would break her.“>
“And tell your dad he was never the villain,” she said. “Just scared.“}
And then she walked off into the night.
A closed the door behind her and locked it.
The letter in my hands burned hot with everything it might contain.
Then I looked down at the envelope in my hands and whispered to myself.}
“She needs to see this.“}
Because tomorrow, I am going to give it to Callie. Myself.)
