Page 76 of From You to Me

But the man who I’d built myself to be today needed to be resilient, get my facts straight, and have the glaring truth stare at me before I nose-dived into the pits once again.

But the heavy itch down my throat swallowed me whole, nagging at my heart. If any of this was true, then what have I done?

All these years of pain that I’d put her through at the cost of my dream.

The loss and despair that she must’ve felt.

Even thinking of it burned me.

My days may have turned to storms, but a part of my being was always hers.

I could still feel our connection pulsating over the buried surface as she lay in my arms.

After all, she was once my everything.

My best friend.

My soulmate.

My heart.

My lover.

My Evy.

PART IV

THE ESCAPEMENT

-the act of loving someone so much that you escape them

(origin: fiction)

CHAPTER 17

A snowflake fell on the tip of my nose, melting away as quickly as it fell—winter came in late this year. But everything about New York was unpredictable. Like the homeless man who used to smile when I gave him my leftover food but now sneered at me, accusing me that I gave him food poisoning instead.

I sighed; it’s been a week since Seattle.

A week since I last saw him. After everything that happened, Jay decided it was probably best if I’d returned home, stating he could manage without an assistant for a week. He told me that my salary wouldn’t be compromised and asked me to rest, promising that he would meet me after London.

It’d been radio silence ever since. His promise was on word of mouth, and I wasn’t sure how he was going to execute it.

I also sent him my manuscript but hadn’t heard a word back except for a ‘thank you.’ A tick of nervousness raced through my heart at that thought.Had he started reading it?

But just as he vowed, the money got dropped into my account last night. Now it sat heavy. I couldn’t wait to cash it out and throw it in David’s face and finally free myself from the debt.

My thoughts halted as I keyed my apartment open, carrying the heavy mountains of groceries in my arms, which were dying of numbness at this point.

Strawberry’s cute little bark greeted me as I rushed to the kitchen and dropped all the bags on the island.

A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I shook my forearms,damn those were heavy.

The shrill sound of my phone ringing cracked through the air as I started placing the items in the fridge.

“Hello.” I clutched the phone between my ear and shoulder.

“Evy,” Gabe cried out. “You have to come to the emergency room now.”