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She draws her knees up, chin tucked into her coat, scarf pulled comically high around her jaw, but I say nothing. She looks peaceful. Windswept and flushed and so heartbreakingly real.

The wind whips across the shore, catching her hair and tossing it across her face in loose strands. She closes her eyes and leans into it, like the sting of the cold is some kind of relief. Like she’s letting it scrub something clean inside her.

Then, she looks down toward the shore, at a small group of people in wetsuits. “No sane person is voluntarily getting in that sea in this weather. I don’t care how spiritual it’s supposed to be. Cold water therapy is a scam.”

I glance over at her, grinning. “I’m starting to think your sense of fun’s a summer-only subscription.”

She snorts, eyes still closed. “My sense of fun doesn’t involve frostbite, thank you very much.”

The breeze picks up, sending a fine spray of sea mist into the air. I don’t even flinch. The quiet between us is soft now, not heavy. Like we’re both settling into it. Letting it hold us.

Her phone buzzes.

Ellie jumps slightly, fumbling it out of her coat pocket, brows furrowing as she unlocks it. The wind drags across her face, but she doesn’t seem to notice. She just stares at the screen. Frozen.

I sit up straighter, pulse spiking before my brain catches up. “Ellie?” Her name tumbles out of my mouth instinctively, pushed by the sudden shift in her posture, the way she goes still, phone clutched tight, breath held like she’s waiting for the world to tilt.

She blinks. Slowly. Like she’s not sure if what she’s seeing is real. Then her eyes flick up to mine, wide and stunned, her mouth parting around a single word. “Kieran.”

Her voice is soft, breathless, like saying my name makes it more real.

She looks down at the phone again, holding it like it might vanish if she blinks too long. “He’s gone. David. He’s gone. I just got a message from him.”

For a second, everything stills. My heart stutters, caught somewhere between hope and caution, like it doesn’t know which way to fall. I search her face, and that’s when I see it, really see it.

Relief breaks across her features in slow, unsteady waves, like she doesn’t quite trust it yet.

Her shoulders drop, her mouth trembles. Not with fear this time, but something closer to joy.

Like air filling lungs that haven’t known peace in too long.

There’s colour in her cheeks, a spark in her eyes that hasn’t been there in weeks.

She exhales, shaky and overwhelmed, but smiling.

“What kind of message?” I ask.

She doesn’t speak at first. Just hands me the phone.

David [13:24]

I’ve made arrangements to vacate the property. I’ll be staying elsewhere for the foreseeable future. I trust this will give you and Mia the space you need. Please keep me informed regarding any formal steps moving forward. I’d appreciate it if we could keep this civil and contained. David.

It’s polite. Calculated. Every word carefully chosen to sound reasonable. Safe. But I see it for what it is, he’s covering his arse. Playing nice now because he knows there’s a record. A paper trail. Because Ellie finally took back the narrative.

Still. He’s gone.

I look up just in time to catch it, that moment the news fully hits her. Her lips part, her breath catching like she can’t quite take it in.

Then she laughs. This sharp, half-disbelieving sound that turns into something bright. She squeals, high-pitched and completely unguarded, and before I can process it, she launches herself at me.

I barely stay upright as she crashes into my chest, arms flinging around my neck, her whole body shaking with something fierce and wild. Relief. Joy. Everything she’s been holding back, spilling out in this one ridiculous, beautiful hug.

I wrap my arms around her tight, grounding her as she laughs into my shoulder, and I press a kiss to her temple without even thinking. “I’m so happy for you, Ellie.”

She pulls back just enough to look at me, eyes wide and shiny, disbelief still written across her face like she doesn’t trust it’s real.

Then.

Plip .

A raindrop lands on her cheek.

She blinks and we look up. Another hits the bridge of my nose. Then three more follow, fat and sudden.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I mutter, glancing up at the sky as it darkens.

Ellie grins, sudden and bright, and before I can react, she whips off her jacket and bolts, letting her scarf fall to the sand behind her. She’s running across the damp sand like some kind of coastal maniac.

“Ellie!” I call after her, laughing even as rain starts properly falling. “You’re going to freeze!”

“Worth it!” she yells back, curls sticking to her cheeks, arms flung out like wings.

I chase her, and rain soaks through my jacket in seconds, cold and insistent. She’s spinning like a storm, and I run straight into it.

I catch her from behind, arms sliding around her waist as I lift her off the ground. She screams and laughs, thrashing lightly as I spin her in a wild circle.

“Put me down!”

“No chance,” I grin, holding tight.

We stop, breathless, the rain falling in steady curtains now. Her hands flatten against my chest as she turns in my arms, face upturned, eyes locked on mine.

She’s soaked. Smiling. Rain dripping from her lashes. And I’ve never seen her look more alive.

She’s so gorgeous it hurts.

Her hands curl into my jacket. Her lips part, just slightly.

I reach up, fingers brushing the wet strands of hair from her cheek, tucking them gently behind her ear. Her eyes flutter, her breath stutters, and my heart is thudding so hard I can barely hear the sea anymore.

But then she shifts. Her expression breaks into a grin, wide and wild. “This calls for chips,” she says.

I blink. “ Seriously? ”

She nods, water running down her face. “Extra salt and vinegar!”

“You’re soaked.”

“So are you.”

And despite the storm, despite the ache building somewhere in my chest that doesn’t quite know what to do with all this, I laugh.

“Alright,” I say, letting my forehead rest against hers for the briefest second. “Chips it is.”