“You’re leaving?” she whispered.
“I have to. You’re not in survival mode anymore. Scarlette has you and Ollie. And she still has me. I’ll always be her Daddy Luna. I just... I need to figure out who I am again.” I reached up and wiped the tear off her cheek with my thumb. “I gave up so much to come here, and I don’t regret it. I’d do it again. But now I need to go do something for myself for once.”
Nova didn’t respond right away. I watched her eyes glaze, her mind spinning through all the versions of mornings we’d shared—me brushing Scarlette’s hair into little braids while she packed lunches.
She blinked fast. “I’m going to be so mad at you when I don’t know how to do a fishtail braid.”
A small, broken laugh escaped my throat. “I’ll send you a tutorial.”
My smile wobbled, but I held it. Because that was what I did—I held things. Emotions, people, burdens, stories. I’d held Nova for years. Through heartbreak, through Austin, throughher world falling apart and her crawling back from the edge of it. I would never regret it, but I was tired of holdingeveryone else.
My chest ached as I looked at her. Nova—my twin flame, the other half of my heart. I’d left my job, my friends, my yoga practice, and my entire community behind just to move to London so she wouldn’t drown alone. I’d learned to make British pancakes, watched her fall in love and give birth, but I was the one unraveling, and I didn’t even notice it until Dirks’s voice cracked something open inside me.
My body was screaming to go home. For the first time in my life, I had to listen.
Nova’s eyes were glassy as she stared at the floor, then at me. “I— I’ll come with you.”
My head snapped up.
What?
I searched her face, sure I’d misheard her, but there was no sarcasm there.
“You can’t,” I whispered.
“I can,” she said firmly. “You moved here for me when I didn’t ask. I’m going to do the same for you.”
My throat burned. I wanted to stop her. To screamDon’t do this, not for me, but some small, selfish part of me needed her to mean it because I needed my friend. I needed my family through this new journey.
She started rambling about her job, Iris, Ollie—her brain already trying to fix the unfixable, to smooth this into something survivable.
“What about Ollie? You can’t leave him, Nova. You can’t rip Scarlette away from her dad. From this.”
“I’ll talk to him,” she said firmly. “We’ll figure it out.”
I nodded, but inside, my heart squeezed. Because of courseshebelieved that. Nova always believed she could hold the world together with sheer will and duct tape and one more bravedecision. Maybe she could, and maybe she was the kind of woman the universe actually listened to.
I’d seen what it cost her. I’d watched her pour from an empty cup until she was just bones and burnout, and I’d dragged her out of it more than once. I couldn’t let her do that forme.
And Ollie? The idea that he’d just say yes, that he’d leave his family and his team and the place where he belonged... It felt like fantasy. A beautiful one, but not reality.
“You’re sure he’ll be okay with that?”
“He’ll understand. We’ll make it work.”
I didn’t say what I was thinking. That Ollie was the kind of man who would sayyeseven when his whole body was screamingno. That he would follow her anywhere, but quietly, he’d mourn everything he left behind.
My smile faltered. “Do you hate me?”
“No,” she said, without hesitation. “I could never hate you, Luna. I’m sorry you’ve been battling this alone.”
I leaned into her shoulder like I had so many times before. Like we were still kids on the floor of her bedroom, trying to survive high school heartbreak.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” I whispered. “I didn’t want to be the one to break us.”
“You didn’t break us,” she said. “You saved me.”
I shook my head, not sure I believed it. “Not really. I just... kept showing up.”
