Chapter 3

Hailey was up early the next morning.

Spencer slept until 10:00 am. When he finally emerged from the bedroom, he found Hailey sitting at the table, writing. Rubbing his eyes, he wandered over.

Her notebook was filled with writing. As he read, he realized she'd made a list of things she wanted to do.

First, visit her childhood home and catch up with old friends.

Second, feed the pigeons by the lake.

Third, go to a bar, get drunk, and wake up with a hangover.

"Hailey, what's all this?"

Hailey paused, pen in hand, and glanced up at him. "It's a wish list."

Spencer seemed to remember something, and a smile crossed his face. "You made a wish list when you were 17, too..."

He stopped himself, looking as though he regretted bringing it up.

Hailey knew why. He was afraid that talking about the past would upset her.

But she'd long since come to terms with what had happened. Those memories no longer hurt the way they used to, so she picked up where he'd left off.

"Yeah. I made a list of 100 things I wanted to do before I turned 18. Bungee jumping, skiing, whitewater rafting, surfing... Some of them were pretty crazy. But you were even crazier.

"You documented every adventure and did every single one of them with me."

Hearing her talk about those days brought back a flood of memories for Spencer, and he smiled.

"What can I say? I was crazy about you. Whatever you wanted to do, I wanted to do with you. As long as we were together, I wasn't afraid of anything. I even jumped from hundreds of feet up with my eyes closed."

Hailey watched him quietly, his face lighting up as he reminisced.

When he finally looked down at her, she said, "I haven't seen you smile like that in a long time."

Spencer's smile faltered. After a few awkward seconds, he changed the subject.

"Why don't I do everything on this list with you, too?"

Hailey shook her head, unwilling to budge. "It's my wish list, not yours. Besides, you're always so busy with work. You don't have to come with me."

There was something about Hailey's calm expression that unsettled Spencer, though he couldn't quite put his finger on why.

He was about to try persuading her again when his phone rang. One look at the screen, and his face lit up.

"It's work," he said, turning to leave without even waiting for her response.

Hailey watched him go, taken aback.

In the past, whenever she'd wanted to try something on her own, Spencer had refused to be left behind. He'd begged and pestered her, then stubbornly tagged along anyway.

But things were different now.

He hadn't even tried to change her mind. He hadn't so much as said he'd be worried about her.

People said marriage killed love. Hailey had never believed it.

Now she did.

They hadn't even had the chance to grow old together. Somewhere along the way, the love they'd once shared had slowly worn away, leaving nothing but exhaustion.

Hailey finished her list in silence.

Then, in the blank space at the top of the page, she carefully wrote My Final Wishes.

Just as she finished, her phone lit up beside her.

It was another message from Candace. This time, she'd sent a photo of herself sitting in the passenger seat of Spencer's car.

At first, Candace's messages had hurt so badly Hailey could barely stand it. But after so many, she'd gone numb.

Without a word, she opened her laptop, transferred the latest message to it, and printed it out. Then she tucked the printout into a drawer alongside her wish list.

The drawer was already filled with messages she'd saved over the past few days, each one another attempt by Candace to get a rise out of her.

To Hailey, death would mean an end to her suffering. But that didn't mean she was going to quietly step aside and let Spencer and Candace have their happy ending.

If Spencer didn't love her anymore, he should've been honest with her instead of falling for another woman behind her back. And Candace had no right to keep rubbing it in her face.

The woman who'd sent those cruel messages was nothing like the wonderful woman Spencer had described in his diary.

Hailey would be more than happy to show him who Candace really was.