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I laugh through the tears. “That's all I get?”

His mouth pulls up slightly. “Makes sense to me.”

I look at him for a moment. “It does?”

“Yeah.” He turns toward the sea again. “You loved him.”

My chest tightens. “Still do.”

“I know.”

Silence settles between us before he looks at me again.

“But you're alive.”

Fuck.

I bite down on my lip. “Yeah.”

His shoulder presses into mine again.

“Good.”

I close my eyes.

Tonight I'm barefoot on the balcony of my childhood home, listening to the same waves that put me to sleep when I was a little girl and looking at the same stars I used to make wishes on.

Damiano is still part of me. The pain is still here, but so is the peace.

And beside me is the man who somehow learned how to sit with both. How to sit with this new version of me.

For a while neither of us says anything. The waves keep rolling onto the shore below us, and I tip my head back, finding the stars again.

“Nora.”

His voice is hoarse, fragile somehow.

“Yeah, Grumpy?”

His shoulder presses against mine as his eyes study me.

“I'm so fucking happy you kept that promise.”

CHAPTER 17

Jude

Sunlight on my face and laughter wake me up.

I stretch and groan, rubbing a hand over my face. I don't feel rested at all because I barely fucking slept. First because of the jet lag and then...

The talk with Nora.

She wanted to die.

My chest tightens all over again.

Just the thought of a world where she doesn't exist takes the oxygen out of me. I can't fucking breathe around it, and somehow knowing how close she came only makes my resolve to make sure she's okay even stronger.