ASH POV
I kept thinking I’d wake up and regret giving Luca my number.
But I didn’t.
I woke up the next morning and felt… still.
Not healed. Not over it. But something like cleared. Like a window had finally opened in a room I didn’t realize I had locked.
I made coffee. I opened my windows. I even watered the one plant I hadn’t quite managed to kill yet.
And I didn’t think about Caleb right away.
That part surprised me the most.
Usually, when I felt something good, my brain would rush to fill the space with guilt. With reminders of the past. With every little version of myself I’d tried to forget.
But that morning, I just… sat.
Later in the afternoon, Vivian called.
“You sound lighter,” she said after a few minutes of small talk.
“Is that your polite way of saying I sound less l
