Chapter 42
The day they finally wheeled me out of the hospital, the air outside felt foreign. It was lighter, fresher, and yet there was a heaviness inside me that the breeze couldn’t touch.
Ava was right there beside me, pushing my wheelchair towards her car with that protective determination in her eyes.... the kind that dared anyone to even breathe wrong in my direction.
Not once during my stay had my adoptive mother, Mrs. Rivers, or my “sister” Cas come to see me. Not a single call. Not a single bouquet that wasn’t from strangers or Nathan.
I wasn’t expecting warmth from them. I’d given up on that kind of hope years ago but some small, ridiculous part of me still thought they might come. Maybe out of duty, just to keep up appearances.
They didn’t.
When Ava pulled up to my fa
