“We did.” He glances sideways. “You sure you want to leave?”
No.
“Yeah,” I lie. “I’m needed back to L.A.”
Will whistles low. “Didn’t figure Sam for the type to fall for someone from out there.”
“We’re just friends,” I say quickly.
It tastes like ash.
Because when Sam finds out I’m gone, when Phern tells him why I left…
He’s going to hate me. Even if it is a lie.
The ride is quiet. Will’s kind enough to let me drown in the noise of my mind without interruption. When the city limits of Sheridan come into view, my chest tightens.
He finally asks, “Where you headed from here?”
I laugh, low and bitter. “Not sure. I lost everything in the flood.”
“Phern said you might need a bus ticket.” He pauses, glancing over at me. “That right?”
“Yeah.”
“We’ll get you squared away.”
Fifteen minutes later, I’m standing on cracked linoleum, holding a bus ticket like it’s the only thing tethering me to the earth.
Will walks me to the door, hands in his jacket pockets. “Nice to meet you, Charlie.”
I stop him with one last hope.
“Wait—do you have Sam’s number?”
His brow furrows. “You don’t?”
I shake my head. “We never needed it.”
He exhales. “I’m sorry, but if Sam didn’t give it to you, I don’t feel right doing it behind his back.”
I nod, heart sinking. “I understand.”
I don’t. But I pretend.
Ticket in hand, I walk toward the waiting bus. Just before I step up, I turn back and look at Sheridan. At everything I’m leaving behind. Then I climb aboard. And try not to fall apart.
The bus ride is, without exaggeration, the worst thing I’ve ever endured.
Forty-six hours.
Five transfers.
No sleep. No food. No space. Just recycled air, too many strangers, and heartbreak that sits in my chest like a second spine that’s sharp, unrelenting, and impossible to ignore.
Every jolt of the road feels like it’s shaking something loose inside me. The farther we get from Sheridan, the more it hurts. Wyoming fades behind me, and so does he. And with every mile, I wonder if Sam’s found my empty side of the bed. If he’s reading my silence like a goodbye. If he hates me now.
That thought hurts most of all.
