Epilogue
MALENA
The summer was a welcome reprieve.
After Conrad’s graduation, I stayed in the city with Sabrina. But since my writing seminar started the week after the Fourth of July, Conrad and I decided to enjoy the beach in Newport for a week.
A warm, salty breeze swept off the ocean and through my sheer cover up as I typed up another chapter, coasting along a burst of creativity.
I smiled as I read back the last few pages, stunned at the words I’d placed so neatly on the page. Before I could dive in again, the slide from the glass door pulled my attention and a newspaper was placed over my laptop screen.
“The plot thickens.” Conrad leaned over the back of my lounge chair and braced a hand on either side of the headrest. “I picked this up when I was at the store.”
Former Winchester University President cuts deal with FBI White Collar Division, avoids jail time for the ‘Poisoned Ivy’ Scandal
I smiled. It wasn’t a secret to me—I’d been there when Conrad reviewed it and helped Barrett oversee its approval process at the paper last week—but it was still an interesting end to our saga.
“It was Abby, the librarian,” Conrad confirmed.
“She came forward?”
Conrad nodded. “That was the second voice we heard in the closet that day. Apparently, she and Packham knew the authenticator at the gallery—a former Winchester alum—and all three were in it together with the art dealer that brokered the sales. He used the dormant Lancaster account to evade suspicion. The FBI traced all the money.”
“Wow.”
Maybe it wasn’t the end. Either way, Conrad was enjoying the summer more than he expected, and it brought me a surprising joy to see it. To see him finding delight and success in places he assumed he never would have.
“So…” Conrad pressed a kiss on my hairline and took a seat on the chair across from me. He tapped my screen. “How’s the short story going?”
“Amazing.” Practically giddy, I worked on the writing seminar’s pre-lesson assignment with so much ease that it didn’t feel like work. We had to write a ten-thousand word story, in any genre, which we’d revisit at the end of the summer.
The only person more excited about it was Conrad, who insisted on reading every draft.
“And the other document?”
“My pro/con list?” I saved the file and tilted the screen down a bit.
The sea breeze whistled between us.
“That’s the one.”
“I’m leaning toward a gap year,” I finally said out loud.
Avani called a friend at the Winchester General Medical Center, where I interviewed for a part-time research position.
I could work there and spend my free time writing and figuring out what I wanted to do long-term.
After next year, once I graduated, that felt like a good plan.
The right one for me. “I hear back from the research team in a week.”
I wasn’t ready to sign up for a life of anything until I got to experience more of it.
“You’ll get it,” he said like it was a fact. “Did you tell your parents?”
I shook my head. “Avani did.”
I got the occasional call from my dad over the last few months, checking in without any expectation of me seeing them. It felt like progress. And when we got here, I met Conrad’s mom, who was kind and doting. It made me ache to see my own, but I wasn’t ready yet.
“Do you want to go and see them?”
“No,” I answered immediately. What I wanted was that feeling of safety I had every day when I was at Winchester. The corners of Conrad’s eyes fell, but he nodded. “Not yet. But once Avani’s back for good, I think I will.”
Avani would finish her residency this year and then she’d be starting her job in New York.
She’d been talking to them more, making sure they understood what they’d done to push me away.
Maybe with her around, it would be easier to see them.
I hoped they were actually going to be better.
To work on their obsession with what other people thought, to make amends for the pain they caused.
I knew it would take time, but I was willing to wait.
“Well…” He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “On a brighter note, you’ll be close by when I’m at business school.”
I smiled. Conrad would be at Winchester’s business school, so for now, not too much would change.
“I may turn on a dime,” I warned. “Who knows, I could be going to med school the year after. Or going for a master’s.”
He grinned. “Where you lead, I follow, Holmes.”
I took a sip of lemonade from the glass sitting on the table beside me and relaxed into this feeling.
These days, I was filled with an ease that came with no pretenses.
I was myself.
All the time.
“Okay.” He stood and gave me another quick kiss. “I’m going for a swim, you write.”
I nodded as he walked back inside to get changed. Then, I looked at the words I’d assembled on my laptop.
Maybe this would be my first assignment for the seminar and after that it would live on my laptop forever. Maybe I’d turn it into a full-length novel and publish it. Maybe I’d see it in bookstores. I didn’t actually care about the outcome.
What mattered was that I decided what I wanted, who I wanted, and how I wanted to go about getting all of it. It was so simple I wondered how I ever let myself believe the two-Malena system would work.
All the lies kept me stuck in the web, and now, with the truth, I was finally free.
THE END