CHAPTER NINETEEN
Liana
Moving Forward
Things changed after that kiss.
Not dramatically. But subtly.
Luca and I spent more time together. Talking, laughing, just being.
He still slept in the chair beside my bed when the nightmares got bad. But now, sometimes, I'd wake up and find him in the bed beside me, holding me close.
It felt right. Safe.
I was still healing. Still had bad days where the memories were too much, where I couldn't stand to be touched, where I felt like I'd never be whole again.
But Luca was patient. Always patient.
"We have all the time in the world," he'd say. "There's no rush."
And I believed him.
Ginny had become one of my closest friends. She understood what it was like to rebuild yourself after trauma. And she never judged me for the bad days.
"Healing isn't linear," she'd say. "Some days you'll feel great. Some days you'll feel like you're back at square one. That's normal."
I was learning to accept that. To give myself grace.
Dr. Bassi had cleared me medically. My ribs were healed, the bruises gone, the cuts scarred over.
But the scars inside would take longer.
Maybe they'd never fully heal.
But I was learning to live with them.