The memory of that night Serena left for Carmel came rushing back to Eli as he sat alone in the bar. He had tried to block it out, tried to forget the hollow feeling that had settled deep in his chest when he realized she was gone. But now, with everything that had happened, he couldn’t stop the flood of memories—the hurt, the confusion, and the desperate emptiness that followed every time Serena walked away.
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Eli remembered the phone call vividly. It had been late, long after her absence after the race was already gnawing at him. She’d said she needed time, space—things he hadn’t fully understood back then. He’d thought they were okay, that their growing closeness was something solid. But after the race came to a finish, she vanished.
He had rushed home that night, his mind spinning
