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And because Layla had decided she didn’t want me anymore, but kept giving me these little breadcrumbs, I couldn’t even bring myself to walk out the door.

It wasn’t fair.

My family deserved better.

I deserved better.

I’d always love Layla. No matter how badly she’d broken my heart, that was something that would never change.

But I couldn’t continue to alienate the people who did care about me, who did stick around.

Inhaling deeply, I forced a smile onto my face. “There is something you can do.”

“Anything.”

“Ride with me to the restaurant.”

Her eyes searched my face before she returned a genuine smile. “Get your shoes on while I make a call. I’m starving.”

With that, I walked back to the bedroom, folded up Layla’s letters, and tucked them into my nightstand before putting my shoes back on.

Then I drove my sister to the restaurant and did my best to celebrate with my family. Obviously, not everybodyI wanted was in attendance. But Layla had made her choice, and I had no options but to accept it.

10

LIAM

THREE MONTHS LATER

Time did not healall wounds.

Or, if it did, I hadn’t reached the appropriate length of time following such a devastating incident to consider myself healed.

Six months.

Six whole months without her.

Six months of going through the motions just to get to the next day in hopes that one might be better than the one that preceded it.

God, I was tired. Exhausted, really.

Part of that might have been the result of working myself into the ground day in and day out. It was the only thing that worked, the only thing that allowed me to forget, even for a short time, about the ache and hollowness I felt in my chest.

My family had tried.

They’d bent over backwards to find ways to make me feel better about the situation. In the beginning, I think it was more about survival from one day to the next, while everyone hoped Layla would return. But at this point, their efforts were mostly about finding ways to distract me and improve my mood.

I didn’t want to be a burden to them, so I tried my best to be as upbeat as I could whenever they were around or there was some special occasion that required celebrating.

In many ways, I believed that just because my world had been torn apart, I didn’t need to let it leak into their lives. I could still celebrate birthdays, holidays, and any other special occasions with them.

But no matter how hard I tried to be positive, I was miserable on the inside. I was merely going along with whatever family functions got planned and keeping to myself when nothing else was going on.

This week, that meant doing my best to enjoy some time away with my family. As it turned out, my Aunt Mina—my dad’s sister—and her husband had invited us to spend a week with them at my uncle’s family’s ski resort at Keystone Mountain in Scarlet Valley, Pennsylvania.

This was one situation where I didn’t want to take part in the festivities. I would have much rather stayed home and worked. Because being back at this mountain, spending the days skiing and snowboarding with everyone, reminded me of the fun I’d had with Layla when she joined us on a trip here last winter break.

We’d just ended our second day out on the mountain, and we’d all had dinner together. But my siblings and my cousins were up for more fun, so we made our way over from the chalet, where we were staying, out to enjoy some nightlife at the resort. It wasn’t exactly a bar that restricted guests to those over the age of twenty-one, so Jules and I were both able to attend. And since everyone else was going, I didn’t want to be the one to bring the mood down by staying back and sulking.