A few days later, I said goodbye to Eli and checked into a small inn.
I did not want him to watch me die. I could not bear to leave him with that grief.
The room at Haven Inn was small. The white sheets had been washed thin, and the window faced a narrow alley.
I did not contact anyone.
My days fell into a quiet routine. I slept, drank soup, paced the room, and kept the wooden rose beside my pillow while my thoughts drifted.
I wondered what Damian and I might have become if, all those years ago, I had not taken the money and left him behind.
My mother probably would have passed away anyway. Damian and I would likely still have been in that rented studio. He would still have worked until dawn. I would still have pulled night shifts at the convenience store.
Maybe he still would have
