Chapter 13
Frankie
The apartment feels colder than it should.
I drop my keys on the counter and look around at the quiet, empty space. No tree in the corner. No lights. No smell of pine or nutmeg or wood smoke. Just silence and gray walls.
It’s strange how fast a place can stop feeling like home.
I kick off my boots and sink onto the couch. My phone sits on the armrest, screen dark. I stare at it for too long, waiting for something that isn’t coming.
No missed calls.
No messages.
Not that I should’ve expected one.
Cole made it clear this was temporary, a deal, a means to an end. And I agreed to it. I told myself I was fine with that. But the second I walked away, the lie cracked.
I’m not fine. I miss him.
I scroll through my phone just to keep my hands busy, and before I realize what I’m doing—I’ve tapped my parents’ number.
The line rings twice before my mother answers, laughter spilling through the receiver. She’s saying something to someone—probably my brother or his wife—her voice bright, happy, whole.
They don’t even notice I’m gone.
The laughter in the background grows louder, and something inside me snaps. I hang up without saying a word.
The sound of the click echoes in the empty room.
I walk to my bedroom and collapse onto the bed, still in my coat. The ceiling blurs above me as tears start to fall.
I cry for everything. For the years I spent trying to earn my mother’s approval. For the life I thought I wanted. For the mountain I left behind. For the man who looked at me like I was more than enough—even when I wasn’t supposed to matter to him.
I press my face into the pillow, my chest aching.
I just wish I had one more day.
One more day to wake up next to him.
One more day to pretend that I was his wife.
One more day to believe that maybe, just maybe, it was real.
Because somewhere between the pretending and the planning, I went and did the one thing I wasn’t supposed to do.
I fell in love with him.
The thought breaks something open inside me, and I cry until there’s nothing left.
Eventually, exhaustion wins. My body goes still, my cheeks damp, and my heart feels like it’s splintered into a thousand tiny pieces.
I close my eyes, whisper his name once into the darkness, and fall asleep wishing I could wake up back in his arms in our cabin on the mountain.