LOVELORNED

HEARTMENDED (CHAPTER TWO)

HEARTMENDED

Book 2 of the LOVELORNED Series

CHAPTER 2: 6 AM AND NO UMBRELLA

He was at my door at 6:03 AM.

I knew it was him before I opened it.

Because only Caleb knocks like that. Two soft taps. Like he’s scared to wake me, but scared not to.

I opened the door.

Rain.

No umbrella.

Hair wet. Hoodie soaked. Eyes red like he hadn’t slept either.

“Maya,” he said.

I didn’t move from the doorway. Kayla was still asleep upstairs.

“You lied to me.”

“I didn’t lie,” he said. “I didn’t tell you everything.”

“That’s the same thing.”

He flinched. Ran a hand through his wet hair.

“Can I come in? Please. Just 5 minutes.”

I stepped aside.

He dripped onto my rug. The red umbrella was still by the door from last week. The irony wasn’t lost on me.

He didn’t sit.

“I wrote the first 3 chapters of LOVELORNED with Addison,” he said. No preamble. “In 2023. Right after Lily died. We were together then. She typed. I dictated. She paid for the cover when we tried to self-pub.”

My arms crossed. “And?”

“And that’s it,” he said quickly. “Chapters 1-3. The setup. Boy meets girl. Girl gets hurt. The end.”

He looked at me. “Everything after that is you. Lily’s letters. The dorm. The lawsuit. The healing. The 17 chapters you rewrote. The Dreame contract. It’s yours, Maya.”

I laughed. It came out wrong. Bitter.

“So the book about someone stealing your story... had someone steal the story first?”

“It’s not like that.”

“Then what is it like, Caleb?”

He finally sat. On the floor. Like he didn’t deserve the chair.

“I was 20 and broken. Addison said she’d help me publish it. I signed whatever she gave me because I didn’t care if I lived or died. Then I met you. And the book became alive again. And I got scared.”

“Of what?”

“Of you leaving when you found out. Of you thinking I was just like her. Someone who takes.”

The rain hit the window.

I thought about the email. 48 hours. $50,000.

I thought about the comments. “This saved me.”

“Did you love her?” I asked. Quiet.

He looked up. “I thought I did. But I didn’t know what love was until you wrote in my margins and told me to eat breakfast.”

That almost made me smile. Almost.

“Dreame’s lawyer says we can fight it,” I said. “But they might pull the book while we do.”

“I know,” he said. “I already called my lawyer too. I’m not letting her take this from you.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s not hers. Because you’re not hers. Because I messed up by not telling you, and I’ll spend the rest of my life fixing it if you let me.”

I walked to my desk. Picked up notebook #1. Lily’s handwriting.

“Don’t do it scared. Do it loud.”

I turned back to him.

“Okay,” I said. “We fight.”

His whole body exhaled. Like he’d been holding his breath since 2AM.

“But,” I added. “No more secrets. Not one. Or I’m gone.”

He nodded. Fast. “No more secrets. I promise.”

He stood to leave. Stopped at the door. Looked at the red umbrella.

“Can I...”

“No,” I said. “Walk in the rain.”

And he did.

End of Chapter 2

Coming in Chapter 3:

The first meeting with the lawyers.

Addison texts me.

And I find something in Lily’s notes that changes everything.