Eli hadn’t been able to sleep all night. His thoughts were a jumbled mess of worry and regret. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was Serena’s face as she walked away from him. That look of finality, of someone who was done with everything—done with him.
He couldn’t bear it any longer.
The morning sun was barely peeking over the horizon when he decided he had to go back to Carmel. Even though Nicole had told him to give Serena space, he couldn’t just sit around waiting for something to happen. If there was even a slim chance she was still there, he needed to take it.
The drive to Carmel felt agonizingly long, every mile weighed down by his swirling emotions. What if she had already left? What if she didn’t want to be found? Worse—what if she did want to be found, but by som
