Chapter 50. My 21st Wish

Ava

I stared at him, tears sliding down my cheeks, the hallway quiet except for the soft drip of rain from his jacket and the thud of my own heartbeat.

He didn’t move closer. Just stood there, hands at his sides now, letting me look. Letting me decide.

I wiped my face with the sleeve of his hoodie, the one that still smelled faintly like him even after all this time. My voice came out small, cracked.

“You left.”

“I know.”

“You left with her. You left me.”

“I know.”

I took one step toward him, then another, until I was close enough to see the dark circles under his eyes, the stubble he hadn’t bothered to shave, the way his shoulders were tight like he was bracing for impact.

“You said you loved me,” I whispered. “Then you got on a plane.”

“I said I loved you,” he answered, voice low, steady. “I still do. That never got on the plane.”

Another tear fell. I didn’t wipe it away.

“I turned twenty-one today,” I