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It had been important that they go somewhere neutral, which, it turned out, ended up being Mikey’s car. Mia couldn’t deal with going into town and having Helen and Miguel and everyone else see her and Mikey together. And Mikey couldn’t deal with being in the hotel. So here they were, console between them, staring straight out of the windscreen.

“Not the most romantic of places,”

Mikey said, pulling a face. “Sorry about that.”

Mia looked over, his face was unreadable. She had a feeling that he knew what was coming and would do anything to avoid the moment that he found out for sure. She was about to take a deep breath, about to say what needed to be said, when he spoke again.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about our conversations. A lot about us. And I know you need space. I just want to say that, well, that there’s no hurry. Please don’t feel pressured. I can be patient. We don’t have to rush anything.”

She exhaled slowly. A part of her had expected this. Not that that made it any easier. “Mikey,”

she said, voice soft but steady. “I’m not coming back.”

There was stillness and deafening silence for a moment, and Mia thought that maybe this was the hardest thing she’d ever done. She hadn’t set out to hurt him. None of this had been about him, she hoped that he’d understand that.

“Are you sure?”

For the first time in what felt like forever, she was. “Yes.”

Mikey’s jaw tightened, but he nodded, swallowing hard. She knew him well enough to know that he was trying to control himself, trying not to show weakness. And he looked so much like a child trying not to cry that she wanted to hug him.

“I thought we had something worth saving,” he said.

She smiled and reached out, taking his hand. “Mikey, we had something wonderful. Really, we did. None of this takes away from that. I loved you, I swear to you that I loved you. But in the end, it wasn’t for me. I can’t tell you why, I can just tell you that it didn’t fit me.”

“Like a coat,” he said.

She laughed. “A very beautiful and expensive and comfortable coat,”

she said. “But not my coat.”

He looked at her with big puppy-dog eyes. “And there’s no chance that I can be… tailored? Made to fit?”

“No, Mikey. I’m sorry, but no.”

He looked down. “Is this because of her?”

“It’s because of me.”

She squeezed his hand. “Mikey, look at me. It’s important that you understand this. All of this, it’s because of me. Because I need something different. Not something more or something less, but something different.”

He took a shaky breath and nodded.

“I spent so long trying to be the person that everyone wanted me to be,”

she said. “That I forgot who I wanted to be, if I ever knew. I’m just working that out now. And I’m not going to pretend. Not anymore. We only get one life, Mikey. We have to live it truthfully, otherwise what’s the point?”

He studied her, his gaze softening just slightly. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

Carefully, Mia reached into her pocket and pulled out her engagement ring. “I hope you do too,”

she said softly. “I hope that the next girl you give this to is loving and kind and smart and funny, and I hope she likes football and doesn’t mind when you eat on the couch.”

Mikey’s eyes sparkled, and his mouth turned up at one corner. “You know, I hadn’t thought about that. I can eat dinner on the couch now, can’t I?”

“And watch all the football you want,”

said Mia. “And you deserve someone that will enjoy watching it with you.”

Mikey took the ring and spun it with his fingers. “Whoever she is, I hope she’s as good a person as you are.”

“Me? Good?”

Mia said in surprise. “After everything I’ve done?”

“You did what you had to do,”

Mikey said gravely. “No one wants to live a lie. I wouldn’t have wanted to be a part of it either. You’re a good person, Mia. And I hope that Luna appreciates that. I hope she sees that she’s won the lottery and found someone amazing.”

She couldn’t talk about that, couldn’t tell him, so she just nodded. “Thank you.”

She squeezed his hand again and then got out of the car.

“Mia?”

She leaned back in.

“This doesn’t have to be goodbye,”

Mikey said. “We could still be friends. If you’d like?”

She smiled. “I think I’d like that.”

He nodded and started the engine, and she closed the door.

As he drove away, she felt lighter, like she could finally breathe properly. She wasn’t running anymore. She was choosing.

THE PHONE SAT in front of her like an unspoken challenge. Afternoon sun filtered through the curtains of her hotel room, casting shadows across the bed. Mia stared at the screen, her fingers hovering over the call button.

She’d always followed the plan. Good school, stable job, perfect marriage. It had been easy to believe that was what she wanted. But then something had happened. A small breakdown perhaps. She’d seen a woman in a bikini laughing, she’d stolen a chocolate bar, she’d realized in those tiny moments that she had space to breathe. And it was only when she had that space that she realized how suffocating the rest of her life was.

So she’d left. And then Luna had crashed into her life, unpredictable and electric, and that beautifully paved road in front of her had suddenly turned into a maze, a labyrinth that she didn’t know how to navigate.

But she couldn’t stop now.

She took a deep breath before she pressed the call button.

“Mia?”

Her mother’s voice was warm and expectant. “Are you coming home?”

Mia swallowed, bracing herself. “No.”

Just that word. It should be enough.

There was a beat of silence. “Sweetheart, you’re upset. That’s understandable. But all of this is fixable. Just come home and we’ll talk. We’ll fix this.”

“There’s nothing to fix,”

Mia said, gripping the phone tighter. “I need you to listen to me, mum. I’m not taking the new job. I’m not getting married. I don’t exactly know what it is that I’m doing yet. But I know that I’m not coming back. I’m not going backward.”

“Mia, this is ridiculous,”

her mother snapped. “That girl—”

She stopped suddenly.

Mia’s heart beat in her throat. “That girl?”

she prompted icily.

Her mother sighed. “Mikey told us.”

“Did he?”

she said, determining that the next time she saw Mikey she’d have to have a word with him about keeping secrets. “This isn’t about Luna. This is about me.”

“You’re making a mistake.”

“No, I was making a mistake. Marrying Mikey would have been a mistake. This… this is different. And maybe you’re right, maybe it’ll end up being another mistake. But at least it’s my mistake to make.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

“Mum, I don’t want this to come between us all. I’m your only daughter, you’re both my only parents. I want you to be a part of my life, and I want you to be happy for me. If you can’t be, then…”

She didn’t dare finish the sentence.

“Don’t shut us out.”

Her mother’s voice was wavering, full of tears.

“I don’t want to,”

Mia said softly. “But I need you to let me do things my own way.”

“You’ll ring again?”

“I promise,”

Mia said. “I’ll ring at least once a week. And… maybe you could come and visit.”

Her mother sniffed. “Yes,”

she said. “Not now, maybe. But in a few weeks. Yes, I think I’d like that.”

“I’d like that too,”

Mia said, smiling.

When she hung up, she felt free-er than she’d ever felt before in her life.

THE TOWN WAS quiet at night when the streets were empty of tourists. Mia wondered what it would be like in the winter, when it was just the townspeople. Maybe she’d find out, she thought. If she stayed here. Or maybe she’d find out about some other place.

She wasn’t sure what had drawn her outside, only that she needed to move, needed to be in the fresh, warm air, needed to think. So she walked slowly down the street past the darkened shops, until she saw that the light from the bookshop was spilling across the pavement.

Just as she was about to walk past, the door opened. Sam, the shaggy-haired bookshop owner and tandem bicycle rider, stepped outside, stretching.

“Jesus, I thought you were a ghost there,”

he said, startled when Mia stepped closer. “I’m catching up on my accounts. What’s your excuse for being up at this hour? Can’t sleep?”

Mia sighed. “I suppose I’m working through some personal stuff.”

Sam chuckled knowingly. “Love can do that.”

Mia blinked. “What?”

He gestured back toward the shop. “You ever notice how every great love story is complicated? You have to wade through pages and pages of obstacles before there’s a happy ending. I suppose if it was easy, it wouldn’t be a story worth telling.”

Mia hesitated, something in her chest tightening. She had spent so long being afraid, not just of losing Luna, but of having her. Because having someone like Luna meant being vulnerable. Meant risking everything. But what she hadn’t realized was that risk always has another side. She might lose. But she might win.

She looked up at the night sky, heart pounding. The truth settled over her, terrifying and exhilarating all at once. She started to laugh.

“I love her.”

And for the first time, she let herself believe it.

Sam chuckled to himself and shook his head, going back into his shop, and letting Mia laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.