I pull onto the side of the road and barely manage to wrench the door open before the contents of my stomach come back up.
My body convulses with each heave until there’s nothing left, yet still I remain bent over, waiting for the next wave to hit.
Only when I’m finally able to breathe without the threat of vomiting again do I sink onto the cold ground.
It’s so cold that I think I might end up with hypothermia.
Not that I care much right now.
If anything, the cold helps. It gives me a break from the ache in my chest.
I lean back against the door of the still running car and stare straight ahead into the darkness, where the woods disappear into the night.
Not my brightest moment.
Might be dangerous.
But I...
I close my eyes and let the tears fall.
And they do.
I don’t make a sound.
But I suppose the sound of my heart breaking is loud enough.
Why did I have to find him now?
Now, when I...
I squeeze my eyes shut and press my palms against them, yet it does nothing to stop the sob that escapes.
I’ve lost him.
I’m almost certain I’ve lost him.
And it hurts more than I ever thought possible because I lost him before he was ever mine.
Why does it hurt so much?
All I had was a glimpse. An illusion of what my life could have been, and now even that is gone.
Gone, and forever out of reach.
I swallow hard.
Because the truth is that I’ll spend the rest of my life trapped in a loveless marriage, serving as someone’s punching bag.
Chapter 34
Piper
It’s hard, but eventually I manage to pull myself together and get to my feet.
I’m frozen. My limbs barely cooperate, but somehow I make it back inside the car.
I’m shaking, and I don’t know whether it’s from the cold or everything else.
