Calhoun's POV~
They finally turned the lights out on me.
The barista's "Sir, we're closing" was polite, the kind of politeness you give someone who's been broken in public. I didn't argue. I let the door close behind me and the city chewed me up.
Streets I'd walked a thousand times felt new and hostile and harsh and senseless to me. Every step was a replay of how I'd been a coward, how Carmela had waltzed back into my life and I'd folded like a cheap suit. The what ifs came at me in several waves: if she'd never shown up, if I'd named Elodie a week earlier, if, just once, I'd chosen the hard thing when it mattered. The questions didn't fix anything. They only sharpened the ache in my chest.
The sky tore open. Thunder rattled my bones and the rain came down like it wanted to wash the ci
