Chapter 3

I step outside the station and pick up.

"Aria, what time do you land at LaGuardia? I'll come get you."

My best friend Naomi laughs on the other end.

"Two in the afternoon."

"You're actually moving to New York? Gavin's letting you?"

"I broke up with him."

She pauses.

"Fine. But — are you really gonna be okay leaving him?"

I think about it for two seconds.

"Yeah. I am."

I'm serious.

When I was seven, I was in a car accident.

It wasn't bad. But it scared me so much I stopped speaking.

For three months, I didn't say a single word.

The boys at school made it a game. They tore up my notebooks. Hid my backpack. Pushed me around.

Gavin dragged the worst one into the principal's office himself.

He came out with a bloody nose. Wiped it on his sleeve. Grinned at me.

"It's done. Anyone messes with you, they go through me."

I stared at him for a long time.

And then I said my first word in three months.

"Thank you."

He froze. Then he took off running down the hallway, yelling to everyone he passed.

"She talked! She just talked!"

After that, we were inseparable.

Sixteen years. He was woven into every part of who I was.

Until three months ago.

Gavin's firm hired a new intern — Lily Sutton. That's when everything changed.

He changed his lock screen. He swapped it for a landscape shot. From a team retreat at his company.

It used to be us on Cape Cod — a wave crashing in, him hoisting me onto his back, me laughing so hard I'm crying.

I didn't ask why.

He didn't explain.

Later, Lily kept causing fights, and they kept leading to breakups.

Every time we split, I couldn't sleep. I had to drink myself into bed.

Until last month.

I was leaving the office at eleven at night. Just as I was about to head home, I heard footsteps behind me.

I walked faster. So did they.

I called Gavin.

Once. Twice.

Thirteen times.

He didn't pick up.

I panicked. I missed a step on the curb. My ankle rolled, and I hit the pavement hard.

My finger must have hit something — because suddenly, the line was ringing.

I just realized that my screen had cracked, but the call screen was still open.

It connected in under two seconds.

The background on his end was dead quiet. I could hear him stand up.

"Aria. Don't hang up. Keep talking to me. Tell me where you are."

I told him what happen to me.

"Give me ten minutes."

He was in front of me in nine.

His hair was damp at the temples from the run.

He crouched down and lifted my ankle into his hands like it was glass. His thumb pressed lightly against the swelling.

"Does this hurt?"

I nodded.

He didn't say anything. Just stood up. Turned around. Crouched again with his back to me.

"Get on."

Later, Gavin explained why he didn't hear the call.

He said Lily had bought an extra movie ticket. Said it would've been rude to waste it, so he went with her.

He'd put his phone on silent.

I looked at him. I could feel something just shift between us.

The big screen in the station cycles to a new ad now.

It's the new Forbes cover.

From across the waiting area, one of Gavin's friends points.

"Hey — isn't that Sebastian Crowe?!"

I look up.

I look at his face.

Then I look toward Gavin.

He's scrolling on his phone. Lily is leaning into his side.

He doesn't move away.

My phone buzzes in my pocket.

"I'll be waiting in New York."

A second one comes right after.

"Pick you up at LaGuardia."