Chapter 39 Nova
nova
“Ollie,” Scarlette screamed, her little voice echoing through the house. “Granny is coming. I need my stuffie.”
“It’s right here,” I called back from the stairs, holding up the floppy rabbit she refused to sleep without. “Ollie’s at work still, baby.”
My sweet little four-year-old came bounding down the stairs, her light brown curls bouncing wildly with every step.
She was firmly in the stage where brushing her hair was a battle, and I’d long since learned to pick my fights.
It bothered Luna more than it did me, though.
As promised, Daddy Luna was still the one who came over every morning before nursery school, making sure Scarlette picked out her outfit and got dressed.
It’d been that way since she started school at one, and somehow, neither of them had grown out of the routine.
Ollie’s Mum was already at the door and Scarlette grabbed her rabbit and held it up for her grandma.
“Are you ready to come spend the weekend with Granny and Pops?”
Scarlette squealed, and I walked over to give Mrs. Stone a hug and kiss on the cheek. “Thank you for doing this for us. We’ll be there Sunday.”
Mr. and Mrs. Stone played a significant role in Scarlette’s life. Every summer, we spent at least a month in the countryside with them. However, this was the first year they would have Scarlette to themselves for a few days before we joined them.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” I asked gently, kneeling down to brush a stray curl from Scarlette’s face.
“I’ll be fine.”
Her eyes, the most vivid shade of blue, were mesmerizing—so deep and striking that they seemed almost unreal. Ollie and I never discussed it because those eyes were a feature that unmistakably didn’t come from me. In truth, I saw a lot of my ex in her.
Yet, there was also so much of Ollie in her. It was in the way she was always curious. She didn’t ask questions; she demanded answers. She wanted to know why, to peel back the layers until she could see the core of things. That was Ollie’s influence—his unrelenting thirst for understanding.
Luna’s influence was as strong. Scarlette loved fiercely and without hesitation, her loyalty shining in every action. If she cared for you, it was absolute—like Luna.
But nothing lit her up like watching Ollie coach. She called him my Ollie with a pride that melted my heart. Sitting cross-legged on the grass, she’d mimic his gestures, nod along to his instructions, and hang on every word, completely captivated.
I kissed her forehead, letting the moment linger. “You’re so much braver than I was at your age.”
Scarlette grinned. “That’s because I have you,” she replied simply, like it was the most obvious truth in the world. “I’ll see you in a couple days, Mum.”
I gave her a big kiss on her forehead and told her that Ollie and I couldn’t wait to see her in a couple days. I stepped forward, giving Mrs. Stone another quick hug. “Thank you again for taking her. She’s been so excited about this.”
Mrs. Stone smiled warmly. “It’s our pleasure, really. We’ll have a wonderful time, won’t we, Scarlette?” She gave Scarlette a playful nudge.
Scarlette nodded enthusiastically before taking Mrs. Stone’s hand and heading to the car. She gave me one last wave before climbing into the back seat. I waved at Mr. Stone as he helped load her things and then climbed into the driver’s seat.
I stood on the front steps, watching them pile into the car and drive off. Once they disappeared around the corner, I turned, closed the townhouse door, and leaned against it for a moment, letting the quiet settle.
Pushing myself off the door, I went into the kitchen to make lunch, mentally ticking through the list of things to pack for me and Ollie. The steady rhythm of the task was comforting—until the backdoor slammed open.
I spun around, startled, to see Luna standing in the frame, tears streaming down her face.
In the twenty-plus years we’d been friends, I could count on one hand the times I’d seen Luna cry out of sadness. Seeing her like this sent a shock through me. I dropped the knife I’d been holding, abandoning everything on the counter, and rushed to her.
I wrapped her in a tight hug, and she crumbled against me, her body shaking with sobs.
“I fucked up,” she choked out, her voice raw and broken. “I messed up. Everything is wrong.”
“Nothing we can’t fix together,” I cooed as I guided her into the living room.
She plopped down on the sofa, and I took a look at her. She looked nothing like her cheerful self. She was in an oversized plain black sweatshirt, a pair of sweats, no makeup, and her hair was in a messy bun on her head. This wasn’t the Luna I knew.
“What happened? You’re starting to scare me,” I whispered as I held onto her, wrapping her back into my chest.
“I-I needed to tell you because Ollie will be coming home from work and he’ll for sure know, and . . . I can’t do this anymore.”
If Ollie knew, then it had to be something with her boyfriend, Will. It was the first time I’d ever seen Luna commit to someone monogamously. It had been almost four years of them dating, and I knew from Ollie that Will was planning on proposing soon, which . . .
I glanced down at her finger and didn’t see a ring. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
“I broke up with Will.”
Oh. Ohhhhh.
“Okay.”
Her sobs intensified, and I wrapped my arms around her tighter, trying to offer her any comfort I could. “It’s okay. Everything will be okay.”
“Everything will not be okay. I’m a bad person.”
I didn’t want to assume she’d cheated, but the way she was speaking made it hard to ignore the possibility. This sounded like guilt, heavy and suffocating. I couldn’t help but wonder if there was something more to her words.
“You’re not a bad person,” I said firmly.
In truth, I had never really seen Will with Luna.
He was a great guy, older than her, had a stable job—everything seemed right on paper.
But the way he spoke about her . . . it was like he couldn’t fully appreciate her.
He never said anything outright mean, but I noticed he never bragged about her accomplishments.
She shifted in my arms, pulling away slightly. She sat cross-legged and turned to face me, her expression serious. “I’m going to tell you something, and you cannot freak out.”
I grimaced. “I can’t promise I won’t freak out, but I’ll do my best to keep a straight face.”
“Two months ago, I was feeling really homesick.”
I blinked. “Like homesick, homesick?”
She took a deep breath. “Yeah. For everything. American snacks, pancakes, Trader Joe’s frozen meals.
My yoga girls. Everything felt . . . off.
I didn’t tell you because you were finally settling in.
You had Ollie. You had Scar. You have the life we dreamed about, and I didn’t want to ruin that with my spiral. ”
“Lune—”
“I know.” She cut in gently. “But then Dirks called.”
My heart stuttered. “Dirks, Dirks?”
“Yeah. And I just—when I heard his voice, something cracked open. He told me he missed me. That this was going to be his last season. And I . . . I didn’t realize how much I missed him, too. How much I missed myself when I was with him.”
Her voice faltered. “I didn’t cheat. I didn’t even tell him how I felt.
But after that call, I just . . . couldn’t keep pretending with Will.
He was safe. He was kind. But I’ve been quietly unraveling for months, Nova.
And I can’t stay in something that makes me feel smaller just because it’s comfortable. ”
I didn’t even realize I was crying until the tears hit my chest. “You’re leaving?”
She nodded, her chin wobbling. “I have to. For me. For the parts of me that I shut down to come here and be what everyone needed. You’re okay now.
You have Ollie, and you’re not in survival mode anymore.
And Scarlette—she’s going to have you both.
And she’s going to have me. Just . . . from a distance. ”
“You’ll miss her growing up.”
“I’ll visit. You’ll visit. I’ll still be her Daddy Luna.
That doesn’t change. Nothing’s going to change that.
” She reached out, brushing my tears with her thumb.
“But I need to stop feeling like a shadow of myself. I need to go figure out what’s next.
Fix what I can and see if there’s still something real with Dirks.
” She smiled through the tears. “We’re still sisters.
You’ll always be my person. But right now . . . I need to be mine.”
The silence stretched, my mind spinning with the thought of mornings without her, quiet rooms without her laughter, and Scarlette’s hair undone.
“I’m going to be so mad at you when I don’t know how to do a fishtail braid.”
She laughed softly, crying again. “I’ll send you a tutorial.”
I looked at her as tears blurred my vision.
Luna had given up everything to come here.
She left behind her life, her routine, her people, all to make sure I survived.
To help me find my footing again when I was barely holding it together.
She’d been my anchor, my home, my soft place to land when the world felt unbearable.
My relationship with Luna wasn’t something that could ever be replaced.
Not even Ollie, with all his steady love, could touch what she meant to me.
She had raised Scarlette with me, cried with me, held my hand through heartbreak and healing.
She was Scarlette’s dad. She was my twin flame, my better half, the one person who had seen every shattered piece of me and never once flinched.
How could I even begin to imagine a life without her?
The thought made my world tilt, the edges of it warping like glass under pressure. What if the loneliness crept back in and swallowed me whole?
But deeper than the panic, beneath the ache, was something else: love. The kind Luna had shown me over and over. She’d put her life on pause to help me build mine. It was my turn to do the same for her.