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CHAPTER 38: The Aftermath

Author: Eleanor Vance
last update Petsa ng paglalathala: 2026-01-27 12:57:56
**SLOANE**

One week later, life was surprisingly normal.

Jackson stayed over three nights a week. I stayed at his twice. We didn't call it moving in, but there was a drawer at each other's places now.

His toothbrush by my sink. My coffee mug in his cabinet. His sweatpants folded in my dresser. My hair ties scattered across his bathroom counter.

Small invasions that felt like home.

My mother still wasn't fully speaking to me. But she was thawing. She'd invited us to brunch next Sunday. Progr
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  • The Holidate Pact   CHAPTER 51: Coward

    gl**SLOANE**"Get to Murphy's. Now."Peter's voice came through the phone sharp. Angry. The kind of angry he saved for when I was being particularly stupid."I can't.""Yes you can. You're getting in your car and you're driving here."I was already in my pajamas. Already settled on the couch with a blanket and Netflix I wasn't watching."Peter, I don't think...""He's leaving in five days, Sloane. FIVE DAYS. You have five days to fix this or you regret it for the rest of your life."My chest tightened. Five days. That's what Mike's text had said. December twentieth."What am I supposed to say to him?""I don't know. Start with sorry. Start with anything. Just get here.""He doesn't want to see me.""He's sitting in a bar alone looking miserable because of you. Pretty sure he wants to see you.""Then why hasn't he called?""Why haven't you?"I didn't have an answer for that.Peter's sigh came through the phone."Murphy's. Twenty minutes. If you're not here, I'm coming to drag you out m

  • The Holidate Pact   CHAPTER 50: Five Days Until His Flight

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  • The Holidate Pact   CHAPTER 49: December Blues

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  • The Holidate Pact   CHAPTER 47: Two Weeks of Silence

    **SLOANE**"You need to eat something."Maya stood in my doorway. Holding a bag from the Thai place down the street. The smell made my stomach turn."I'm not hungry.""You haven't been hungry in two weeks. Eat anyway."She pushed past me. Set the bag on my counter. Started unpacking containers like she owned the place.Pad Thai. Spring rolls. Tom Yum soup.I sat on the couch. Stared at the wall.His golf clubs were still in the corner. Right where he'd left them three weeks ago. Before Milwaukee. Before everything.I should have called him to pick them up. Should have done a lot of things.Maya appeared with a plate. Shoved it in my hands."Eat.""I saw him yesterday."She went still."Where?""Mel's. With Mike. They were looking at papers. Contracts maybe.""Did you talk to him?"I shook my head."He saw you?""Yeah.""And?""I ran. Like a coward. He chased me. I hid in the bodega until he left."Maya sat next to me. Took the plate back. Set it on the coffee table."Sloane.""I know.

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  • The Holidate Pact   CHAPTER 44: The Return

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  • The Holidate Pact   CHAPTER 43: The Note & The Drive Home

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