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Dear Liam,

It’s been a long time since I’ve written to you. I’m sorry for that, but I just don’t have the news to share that I’ve been hoping I would.

I’m sure by now you’ve moved on without me. I can’t say I blame you. I realize just how unfair I’ve been to you. It was wrong for me to leave and expect you’d stick around, especially without any explanation.

I never meant to leave like I did. It hadn’t ever been part of my plan. I think if there’s anything you knowfor sure about me, it’s that I like to have a plan. But your proposal made me panic, and I just couldn’t accept it when I had all these feelings of uneasiness inside.

I’m still working on me, still trying to figure things out. And I know that my decision to walk away and be gone for so long has likely destroyed any chance I had of ever getting you back.

My heart aches for what I’ve done to us, and I’m so terribly sorry for destroying what we had.

I want you to be happy, Liam. I want you to have everything you deserve. And that’s why this will be my final letter to you. It’s not fair for me to continue doing this to you.

I still hope to return to Landing one day, and if I’m lucky, maybe things will work out for us then. But until that time comes, you deserve to be happy, even if it’s not with me.

Please know how sorry I am.

And most of all, please know that I will always love you.

Merry Christmas, Liam.

Allmy love,

Layla

She was giving up,and it was all my fault.

This was it.

This was the last piece of her I’d get. There was no telling when she’d ever come back.

It was the proposal that did it. The love I felt for her, the need I felt to be with her forever, was what pushed her away.

It was right there in her letter—Your proposal made me panic.

Even if I didn’t know why it made her panic, the reality was that I’d all but sent her packing. I should have just purchased the plane ticket myself and sent her on her way.

I couldn’t bear to read the letter again. Not yet. This one was far too final.

My head dropped back against the headrest, the pain in my throat and chest unbearable.

“Liam? Is it… is it bad?”

I couldn’t bring myself to speak, and I knew I could trust Jules with the contents of the letter, so I held it out to her. She took it and read it.

Tears spilled down her cheeks. “My goodness, Liam. What are you going to do?”

The devastation was plain as day in her voice.

“There’s nothing I can do. Right now, I’d like to just head back to the hotel.”

“Liam, I think?—”

“Please, Jules,” I begged. “Please.”

She held my stare for a few beats. “Sure.”

A moment later, she turned on the car and drove toward the hotel.