Chapter 2

Vivian's POV

When my parents open the door and see me standing there, hollowed out, clutching a white urn to my chest, something in both of them just gives out.

I don't tell them what Damien did.

I just say, quietly, "Lily was too sick. She didn't make it."

My mom faints on the spot.

My dad, who has stood straight his whole life, seems to cave in on himself. He looks ten years older in an instant. He takes the urn from me with trembling hands, and for the first time in my life, I watch my father fall apart.

The time I spend there is the most peaceful I've had in years.

Every day I sit in the old rocking chair out back, watching the leaves come down one by one, feeling my life doing the same.

The cancer moves fast. I'd refused treatment, and by the last month I can't keep food down. Even water makes me sick.

My dad wants to take me to the hospital. I tell him no.

"Dad, please." I lean into my mom's side, too weak to sit up straight. "Just let me stay home. Lily's waiting for me."

Damien never calls. Not once.

He probably thinks I'm still punishing him over Bryony. That's just how he is. He's always been so sure I can't live without him. So sure that I'll eventually do what I've always done, swallow everything, and crawl back.

He's never going to get that chance.

My last day is one of those rare clear days, and the sky is clear, almost unfairly so. Sunlight sits warm across the bed.

The pain is gone. That tearing feeling I've carried for months is just gone. I can hear my mom crying, quiet, trying to hold it in. I can hear my dad's voice, urgent, calling my name. But I can't open my eyes.

There's a strange lightness, like I'm finally being released from something, and I feel myself starting to drift upward.

When I open my eyes again, I'm looking down at myself in the bed, thin and still, my parents collapsed over me, sobbing.

A few feet away, a small figure stands in a patch of sunlight, hand stretched out toward me.

"Mommy."

Lily. She's wearing that white dress she always loved. No tubes, no machines. Just her face, bright and easy, like nothing in the world had ever touched her.

I go to her. I drop down and pull her into my arms, and something deep inside me that's been hollow for months finally fills back up.

We don't disappear. Instead, something pulls us across the city, gentle but impossible to resist.

We pass through walls. We drift into the apartment where I lived for ten years. One look at the place and something cold turns over in my chest.

The couch I picked out is gone, replaced with one Bryony likes better. The wedding photo Damien and I had on the wall is gone too, swapped out for some large, bright painting that means nothing to me.

Damien sits on the couch, carefully peeling an apple. Skylar is next to him, cheeks full of color, looking like nothing ever happened to her.

"These are so good," Skylar says, taking a bite. She smiles up at him.

"You like them, I'll make it every day." The look on his face, warm and fond and easy. He never looked at Lily that way. Not even close.

The kitchen door swings open and Bryony comes out carrying a plate of cut fruit. Her hair is loosely pinned back, and she moves through the space like she owns it. She settles in next to Damien, close enough to make a point.

"Don't spoil her so much," she says.

Damien puts his arm around her. "She just had major surgery. Let her have it."

Bryony sighs, and her voice takes on that soft, wounded quality she's so good at. "Have you heard anything from Vivian? It's been months. You really shouldn't have let things get so heated that day. Whatever else she is, she's still Lily's mom. Maybe just call her? I worry about her out there with Lily."

The warmth drops off Damien's face completely.

"Why are we talking about her?" He makes a short, dismissive sound. "She's doing this on purpose. Disappearing with Lily just to make a point. Who does she think she is?"

Bryony opens her mouth, closes it. Something flickers in her eyes that isn't concern at all.

"There's nothing to say." Damien cuts her off. "She's the one who signed the papers and walked. She can stay gone until she's ready to come back and beg. And when she does, she's going to look you both in the eye and apologize. Otherwise she's not setting foot back in this house."

He turns back to Skylar, face already soft again, pulls her into his lap and presses a kiss to her cheek. "You're so good. Nobody's ever gonna mess with you, okay?"

I watch the whole thing and feel sick. The kind of sick that has nothing to do with dying.

Lily tugs at my hand. Her eyes are wide, genuinely confused. "Mommy, why is he holding someone else? He always said I was his only princess."

I crouch down. I take her cold little hand in both of mine, and gently cover her other ear, turning her away from him.

"Lily." I try to keep my voice steady, to make my smile mean something. "He's not your dad anymore. From now on, all you need to remember is this: you are the only one. You are the only person your mom has ever loved like this. We don't need him. Okay?"

She thinks about it for a moment. Then she nods, and tucks her face against my chest.

I look up one last time at the place I used to call home.

Damien, you pushed away the only two people who ever truly loved you. And you didn't even notice until it was already done.