Page 108 of Starrily

“I’m sorry,” Penny said, and it hit him.

He was going to die. One way or another. Either completely, gone forever; or he’d lose memories of all of this. Everything he’d done as Simon. Maybe he wasn’t the business genius Simon had been, but it’s been fun. He’d finally, truly lived. And if he survived, he wouldn’t remember a thing.

He wouldn’t remember Callie.

“There’s nothing that can be done for him?” Shanna asked.

“Sorry, honey,” Phoebe said. “This is our best chance of saving both.”

“But I don’t c—” Callie cut herself off, glancing at Shanna.

Raleigh moved to her and hugged her. “It’s fine,” he said. “Itisthe best way.” Strangely, he wanted to … laugh? The verdict felt absurd. He was given a second chance of life—and now, he was going to die. Again. He never thought it would come so soon.

He didn’t want to die. God, he didn’t want to. Despite everything he’d done in the past few years, it still didn’t feel enough. He had so much more to experience. He wanted a life with Callie.

But he wasn’t going to get it.

Shanna shifted awkwardly from foot to foot, staring at the floor. He could guess her thoughts. She didn’t think this was fair, either—but she loved Simon, and wanted to save him. And in the end, he might not have known the man, but he did steal a portion of his life. It wasn’t Raleigh’s fault, but that didn’t matter. He had to do the right thing—give that life back.

“Let’s do it,” he said.

“No!” Callie objected.

“If we don’t, we’ll both die.”

Callie shook her head, pursing his lips. “There are always other solutions. There have to be. Can you break the connection between the souls? Make it so that Simon’s doesn’t die? If we can stabilize him, we can find a way to fix Raleigh, and afterward—”

Penny gave her a sad smile. “Always the scientist.”

“It ain’t gonna work,” Iris said. “It’s gotta be done the way we said.”

“Then it will be,” Raleigh said.

Iris nodded.

“The day after tomorrow,” Phoebe said. “We have things to prepare.”

Two days. He had two days to live. At least, live the rest ofthislife.

Callie let out a choking sound and ran from the room.

***

Callie sat on the front porch, wearing out the faded wood with the heels of her shoes. The door behind her creaked open, and Mom came to sit next to her.

“It’s not fair,” Callie said.

“I know, baby.”

Callie continued to stare into the distance. The sun played amongst the treetops, and dragonflies buzzed down where the river weaved past the house, lazy and calm. It was a beautiful day outside—much too beautiful for how Callie felt on the inside.

“Go on, then,” Mom said. “Yell at me. Punch my arms. Do anything, whatever will help you.”

Up until this moment, Callie was convinced that would’ve been her reaction. A defense against the hurt. But that old hurt was almost entirely gone, to the point where Callie was wondering how much of it had even been real and how much she’d made up to protect herself against more pain.

“I’m going to lose him,” she sniffled. “Just like I lost Mila.”

“We all lose people we love. It’s a part of life.” Mom gently touched her shoulder.