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Chapter 5
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Left at the Edge of Goodbye Chapter 8
Maybe Julian finally regretted everything.Maybe he gave up for good.The division of our assets went smoothly.On top of the share that was rightfully mine, he transferred an additional trust fund large enough to keep me comfortable for the rest of my life.The day we signed, he handed me a small gold baby locket with red-rimmed eyes.“I bought this a year ago. It was supposed to be for our child... You should keep it. Just as something to remember.”At the thought of the baby we lost eight years ago—the child who never got the chance to enter this world—something inside me still tightened with pain.I didn’t refuse it.I took the locket.As I walked away, I heard a voice behind me, so light and broken I almost could have imagined it.“I’m sorry... I love you.”I didn’t turn back.After returning to Riverdale, I opened a small photo studio of my own.I walked the streets and side roads my parents and I had once passed together, trying to find traces of the past through my camera lens.
Left at the Edge of Goodbye Chapter 7
“Waverly...”Julian looked at me, his eyes churning with guilt and grief, then lowered his head deeply.“I’m sorry. I came too late.”His voice held a humility I had never heard from him before, careful and almost fragile.“I know about your parents now. I’m sorry... I was thoughtless, I was out of my mind...”His throat worked, but he couldn’t seem to force out a complete sentence.Even he didn’t know how to defend what he had done.He reached for my hand, but the instant his fingers brushed the back of it, I jerked away.“Don’t touch me.”I looked at him without expression.Just three words.But they nailed him where he stood.“Waverly, I was wrong... I was wrong about the donor lung, I... I never thought your father’s condition would suddenly get worse. The doctor said he was stable, that he had a real chance to recover. I didn’t know...”“You thought...?”I stared into his eyes, full of pain.“If you hadn’t moved my parents into that damp, moldy basement, how would my father have g
Left at the Edge of Goodbye Chapter 6
Julian suddenly remembered the call I’d made the day before—my voice shaking as I demanded to know why he had given away the donor lung my father had waited a full year for.A wave of unease tore through him.He snatched up his phone and called me.It rang and rang.No answer.Restless, irritated, and increasingly unsettled, he started firing off messages."Waverly, stop being stubborn. Come home and we’ll talk."When there was still no reply, he sent another."Waverly, how long are you going to keep this up?"The second that text went through, a new email landed in his inbox.It was from a lawyer.A formal termination-of-engagement agreement.The moment he saw what it was, he froze.Then all the strength seemed to leave his body at once, and he dropped heavily into his chair.I was ending things with him.The agreement spelled it out in cold, precise language: my shares in the company and my stake in the house were to be bought out in cash.I was serious.I meant to sever every tie be
Left at the Edge of Goodbye Chapter 5
The night before, Julian and Rachel had celebrated Ricky’s eighth birthday together.The party was held at a newly opened kids’ theme restaurant in Southport. The private room was packed with balloons and toys.When it came time to blow out the candles, Ricky tipped up his round little face and said in his soft, childish voice,“Daddy Julian, will you be my real daddy? The three of us can stay together forever and never be apart.”He held up a drawing in his hand.There were three people in it:a man in a suit, a woman with long hair, and a child.The three of them stood beneath a rainbow, and in the corner, in crooked, clumsy handwriting, were the words:Our FamilyRachel quickly lowered the drawing, her eyes instantly filling with tears.Julian looked at the picture, then at Rachel’s face, on the verge of breaking, and in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to say no.He ruffled Ricky’s hair and answered casually,“Okay. I’ll always be there for Ricky.”The little boy cheered and thre
Left at the Edge of Goodbye Chapter 4
I had barely stepped out of the office when my phone started vibrating in my pocket.It was the hospital.“Ms. Smith, your father suddenly began coughing up blood during treatment today. He’s already been moved to the operating room.”My heart lurched.Ignoring the pounding rain, I ran straight into the street and flagged down a cab.The roads were slick, traffic was jammed, and by the time I reached the hospital, nearly an hour had passed.My mother was crying so hard outside the operating room she could barely stand.“Waverly, the doctor says we can’t wait any longer. Your dad needs a lung transplant right away if he’s going to survive...”My hands shook as I called the doctor in charge of organ allocation.The doctor sounded confused.“Mr. Hale reassigned that donor lung to a relative of Ms. Carter last week. Didn’t you know that?”Every drop of blood in my body seemed to freeze.Julian had given away my father’s donor lung.I had spent nearly seventy thousand dollars and waited a f
Left at the Edge of Goodbye Chapter 3
My mother blurted out anxiously, “It’s all right. It’s fine down here.”My throat tightened instantly.“There are still several guest rooms upstairs. How can you and Dad be living here?”I strode back upstairs, only to discover that my parents’ old room had been turned into a child’s room.My father’s oxygen concentrator sat abandoned in the corner, gathering dust. The massage chair I’d bought for them was buried under a pile of Rachel’s old clothes.My mother hurried after me, trying to calm me down.“Waverly, don’t be upset.“We’re old. It doesn’t matter where we stay. Once your father gets better, we’ll go back home. We won’t keep being a burden to you and your husband.”I closed my eyes for a moment.“Mom, come with me. I’m booking you and Dad a hotel.“We’re not staying in this house.”The next morning, Julian finally called.“Today’s Ricky’s birthday. He likes a lively house, so come celebrate tonight.”He hadn’t even noticed I never came home.I looked over at my parents asleep
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