The wrecking ball slams into the building, the sound deafening.
Dust rises around us, stinging my eyes. I’m not happy about the destruction. It feels a little like death, but sometimes you need to die so you can start over again. There’s a crowd behind us—our friends, Bea and Hugo. Avery and Gabriel.
There’s a community behind us.
Christopher squeezes my hand. “Are you okay?” he asks, though it’s less of a sound with the rumble still falling in front of us and a hard hat obscuring my hearing. It’s the only way he let me within two miles of the construction site today. It’s more the way his lips move.
The whole thing is coming down, along with every hope I ever had for it, every wall I ever built around myself. Leaving room for something new. I nod to him, squeezing his hand back. “Beca
