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“No, he wants answers. Just like you and I do, Logan. Enough is enough,” Carter bites back, taking the keys away from Quaid, letting them drop in my hands. “Now open the door and let’s get on with it.”
I rub the keys in my hand for a split moment.
Carter’s right.
Like a Band-Aid, it’s better to rip it off in one clean swoop, then continue on as we have done. I open Val’s front door, hoping she’ll end up forgiving us for coming into her house uninvited. However, when we step inside the foyer, the house seems oddly quiet. Quaid runs upstairs, calling out to her, while Carter checks every room downstairs.
I, however, stand rooted to the foyer, because in their haste, they missed something I didn’t.
Three letters with our names on them in her script handwriting, placed separately from each other on the foyer table.
With faulty steps, I walk over to the hall table and trace my finger on the white envelope that holds my name on it.
Logan.
Rocks fall to the pit of my stomach, my heart being fisted with such an unyielding grip that I’m finding it difficult to breathe. Whatever words she decided to write down in these letters, I know it won’t be the happily ever after I thought one of us would get.
When Quaid runs back downstairs and Carter returns to the foyer, they just stare at the same envelopes I now can’t move from.
“W-What is it?” Quaid stutters, hesitating to come any closer.
Though I haven’t opened my letter, I answer him anyway, knowing its contents even without reading a word.
“It’s goodbye.”
Chapter 17
Now
_____________________________________
Valentina
The sun fills up the room, and I savor the sound of Logan and Quaid dreaming beside me. Carter is curled up at the bottom of my bed, new bruises covering his beautiful face, and my lips tremble at the sight of all of them here with me. It’s more than I deserve.
I feel like there’s a huge weight off my chest. Now that my secret’s out, it feels like I can finally breathe. I hadn’t quite realized what a burden I’d been feeling, how much the guilt kept choking me.
And now, all of that is gone.
It’s raining again. Apparently, we caught Prague during its rainy season, if that’s even a thing. The balcony doors are open, and there’s a slight mist falling into the room. As if in a trance, I somehow make my way off the bed, trying my best not to wake them up, and I walk to the balcony.
I step gingerly onto the balcony, laughing when the rain begins to fall on my face. I spread my arms out and spin, knowing that if anyone was watching me right now, they would think that I was crazy.
And maybe I am. But I somehow know that this is the last bucket list item I’m going to be checking off before the end. So I might as well enjoy it.
I feel a touch at my waist, and I twirl around to see Logan standing there. His deep blue eyes look haunted. He looks like overnight, all the happiness has been sucked out of him. He tries to smile at me, but the smile doesn’t quite catch.
“It’s alright, my love,” I whisper. He doesn’t say anything in return, just stares at me like he’s memorizing this moment, right now.
He pulls me close and puts his arms around me.
And then we dance.
We dance slow to a song only we can hear. My head lies on his shoulder. The rain pours down in sheets.
“When today is just a memory to me, I know I’ll still be loving you,” he softly sings in my ear, and I swear my heart clenches. Logan knows that was one of my dad’s favorite songs. When I was sick as a little girl, he’d pick me up and dance me across the room while singing that song.
My tears join the raindrops that are falling down my face, and I wonder why life has to be so unbearably cruel.
