Before We Say Goodbye

BEFORE WE SAY GOODBYE

A Novel

by ELENA ROSE

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2026 ELENA ROSE

All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, organizations, and events are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form without prior written permission from the copyright holder, except for brief quotations used in reviews or other permitted uses under applicable copyright law.

CONTENTS

PART ONE — THE PAST

The Message

The Boy on the Roof

Eight Years

The Coffee Shop

The Envelope

The Letter

What We Lost

PART TWO — THE FOUR DAYS

The Truth

The Things We Never Said

Day One

The Old Bookstore

The Photograph

Day Two

The Almost Kiss

Day Three

The Last Night

PART THREE — THE DISTANCE

Friday

Different Time Zones

The Things That Hurt

The Choice

PART FOUR — COMING HOME

One Year Later

The House on Willow Street

The Question

Forever Is a Choice

Before We Say Goodbye

EPILOGUE

A Photograph

PART ONE

THE PAST

CHAPTER ONE

The Message

At 11:47 p.m., Emma Carter received a message from a number she had deleted eight years ago.

She knew who it was before she opened it.

Some names don't disappear simply because you stop saying them.

Emma sat alone on the couch in her apartment, one leg tucked beneath her, a half-finished cup of tea growing cold on the coffee table.

The television was on, but she hadn't been watching it for the last twenty minutes.

She had been staring at her phone.

Waiting.

She didn't know what she was waiting for.

Perhaps she had simply become accustomed to the quiet.

At thirty-one, Emma had learned to appreciate quiet.

Quiet meant no expectations.

No complicated conversations.

No promises that might be broken.

No people who could walk into your life and rearrange everything before walking away.

Her phone vibrated again.

She looked at the screen.

Unknown Number

Her stomach tightened.

She almost ignored it.

Instead, she opened the message.

Hi, Em.

Four words.

Two letters.

One name she had spent eight years trying not to remember.

Daniel.

Emma stopped breathing.

She stared at the screen until the letters blurred.

"No."

The word escaped her lips before she could stop it.

She placed the phone on the coffee table.

She stood.

Walked toward the kitchen.

Stopped.

Returned.

The phone vibrated.

I know it's been a long time.

Emma closed her eyes.

Eight years.

She remembered the last time she had seen him.

A Friday morning.

A suitcase.

A hug.

A promise.

Then nothing.

No phone call.

No explanation.

No goodbye.

Just silence.

She had spent the first year believing something terrible had happened.

The second year believing he had forgotten her.

By the third, she had decided she didn't care.

By the fifth, she had almost convinced herself.

Almost.

Her phone vibrated again.

I'm coming home.

Emma's fingers went cold.

Then another message appeared.

I need to see you before I leave again.

She stared at the words.

Before I leave again.

Not before I leave.

Again.

Emma sat down.

She didn't know what frightened her more.

Seeing Daniel again—

or discovering that she still loved him.

CHAPTER TWO

The Boy on the Roof

Eight years earlier, Emma had believed the world was simple.

At seventeen, problems were measured in school assignments, college applications, and whether your parents would let you stay out past ten.

Love was something that happened in movies.

Forever was something people promised without understanding what it meant.

And Daniel Reyes was simply Daniel.

Her best friend.

Her neighbor.

The boy who had known her since they were children.

The person who could make her laugh when she wanted to cry.

They had grown up together.

Their houses stood across from each other on Willow Street, separated by a narrow road and a row of old trees.

Daniel used to climb the fence between their yards whenever Emma's mother grounded her.

"You're supposed to be my friend," Emma would complain.

"I am."

"Then why are you helping me break the rules?"

"Because I'm a good friend."

"That's not what good friends do."

Daniel would grin.

"Then I'm a bad friend."

He always made her laugh.

That summer, they spent almost every evening on the roof of Emma's house.

They talked about everything.

College.

Travel.

Jobs.

Marriage.

Children.

The future.

Their future.

Neither of them knew that one conversation would become a memory they would spend years trying to forget.

One evening, Daniel brought a disposable camera.

"Where did you get that?"

"My dad."

"Can he see the pictures?"

"No."

"Then why did you steal it?"

"I borrowed it."

"You stole it."

"Temporarily borrowed."

Emma laughed.

Daniel pointed the camera at her.

"Smile."

"No."

"Come on."

"I hate pictures."

"You hate everything."

"Not everything."

He low