Lila’s P.O.V. I sat on the edge of the bed in the guest room, or I guess, my room from now on, my fingers absentmindedly tracing the patterns on the quilt beneath me. Skye’s house was quiet, almost too quiet, and the silence gave me too much space to think. My mind kept circling back to everything that had happened in the past couple of days, trying to make sense of the chaos. I still felt raw, like an exposed nerve, but there was a strange sense of calm here, in this unfamiliar house. It was as if the storm had finally passed, leaving me in the eye, where things were still and clear. My phone buzzed on the nightstand, the sound jolting me out of her thoughts. I stared at the screen, my heart sinking when she saw the name flashing across it. Brandon. I had been dreading this moment. I knew I had to talk to him, and explain why I had run out on our wedding, but the thought of hearing his voice made my stomach turn. Still, I couldn’t avoid him forever. So, with a deep breath, I picked up the phone and answered the call. “Lila,” Brandon’s voice came through the line, smooth and familiar, but there was an edge to it now, something I hadn’t heard before. “Where the hell are you? I have been trying to reach you nonstop!” “I’m still in Fairview,” I said, keeping my voice steady. “And yes, we do need to talk.” “Fairview?” Brandon repeated, surprise lacing his words. “Tell me where you are so I can come and get you. Come home, Lila. We can fix this.” I closed my eyes, taking a moment to gather my thoughts. “Brandon, there’s nothing left to fix. I left because… because I couldn’t go through with it. I couldn’t marry you. I saw you with Julia.” “You saw me and Julia?” he asked, his tone defensive now. “Whatever you think you saw—” “Brandon, stop,” I interrupted, my voice firmer than I expected. “I know everything about you and Julia. I know it’s been going on for years. So please, don’t insult me by trying to lie your way out of this.” There was silence on the other end, and for a moment, I wondered if he had hung up. But then I heard him sigh, a long, weary sound. “Lila, it wasn’t like that. Julia and I… it was just a mistake. A stupid mistake.” “A mistake that lasted for years,” I said bitterly. “Brandon, do you even hear yourself? I’m done. I’m not coming back.” “You’re throwing away everything we’ve built together,” Brandon said, his voice rising. “For what? Because of one mistake?” “One mistake?” I repeated, my anger flaring because clearly my ex believed having an affair behind my back wasn’t anything worth cancelling a wedding for. “Brandon, this isn’t about one mistake. This is about you lying to me, betraying me, and then expecting me to just… what? Pretend everything’s fine? That’s not a marriage, Brandon. That’s not even a relationship.” “Then what do you want, Lila?” Brandon asked, frustration clear in his voice. “What happens now?” I paused, my eyes drifting to the window. The view outside was peaceful, the sun casting a warm glow over the small town of Fairview. It was so different from the life I had known, and yet, it felt more real than anything I had ever had with Brandon. “I’m staying in Fairview,” I said finally, the decision settling in my chest like a weight lifting. “At least for now. I need time to figure things out, and I don’t want to have any contact with you for a while.” “Lila, you can’t just walk away from everything,” Brandon said, his voice almost pleading now. “We had a life planned. A future.” “A future that wasn’t really mine, was it?” I said softly. “I was going to marry you, because it seemed like the right thing to do, not because it was what I truly wanted. I think I’m only just realizing that now.” There was another long silence, and when Brandon spoke again, his voice was quiet, resigned. “I never wanted to hurt you, Lila.” “But you did,” I replied, feeling a strange sense of detachment. “And now, I have to do what’s right for me. Goodbye, Brandon.” I hung up before he could say anything else, my hands trembling slightly as I set the phone back down on the nightstand. The conversation had drained me, but it also brought a sense of finality, a clean break from the life I had been so close to living. As I sat there, my thoughts began to drift, unbidden, to Skye. I had only met him days ago, but already, he felt more real to me than Brandon ever had. Skye, with his quiet strength, his calm presence, and the way he had taken me in without question, without judgment. He had offered me a place to stay, a chance to find myself, and he had done it all without expecting anything in return. And then there was the way he looked at me, like I was someone worth seeing. Like he wanted to know me, really know me, in a way Brandon never had. It was as if Skye could see right through my walls, past the doubts and the fears, to the person I was trying to become. And somehow, that made me feel more like myself than I probably had in years. I thought about breakfast I had shared with Skye that morning, the way we had talked about art, how Skye’s eyes had lit up when I mentioned my passion for it. There had been a connection there, something unspoken but powerful, and it had stayed with me all day. I couldn’t help but compare Skye to Brandon, and the contrast was stark. Brandon had always been about appearances, about maintaining the life we were supposed to have. But Skye… Skye seemed to care about the person I was, not the image I presented. He had known me for less than a week, and already, he seemed to understand me better than Brandon ever had. I found myself wondering what Skye’s story was, what had made him into the man he was today. And I couldn’t deny the pull I felt toward him, the sense that there was something there, something worth exploring. But I was still raw, still healing, and the idea of opening myself up to someone new was terrifying. Yet, at the same time, it felt like the first step toward something better, something real. For now, though, I knew I needed to focus on myself, on finding my footing in this new life I was building. And maybe, just maybe, that life would include Skye in some way. But first, I had to find out who I was when I wasn’t trying to be someone else’s perfect partner. Taking a deep breath, I stood up and walked over to the window, looking out at the peaceful street below. Fairview was small, and quiet, and it was everything I had never known I needed. And now, it was where I would start over, where I would finally figure out who I was meant to be. But before I would get there, I needed to get rid of the empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. “Ice cream.” I sighed, dragging myself out of the bedroom, knowing that in order to find myself, I needed to get over my break-up first.