Page 88 of Ruled By Fate

“Well, I’ve been getting up earlier, going to sleep earlier, trying to fix the house up again.”

She blinked. “Oh. Well, that’s really—”

“And I had a meeting with Dr. Rogers.”

“What?” She sat down on the side of the bath, hard. “That’s… that’s wonderful, Dad. But I don’t understand. Why now?”

There was silence on the other end. “I guess change is in the air,” he finally replied. “It’s time. It’s past time, actually. Well past. I let you down by not doing this sooner. The doc says… he says better late than never.”

He took in a deep breath, and she heard his voice shake a little. “I…” He coughed, clearly backing down from whatever he was about to say and choosing something else in its place. “The day you left, it shook something up in me. I knew, well, you might be moving away, but I didn’t want to lose you, you know?”

He drew in another rasping breath. She could almost picture him raking back his hair.

“Anyway, I called Dr. Rogers the next day. What’s that your mom always used to say? ‘Make the next best decision you can,’ right?”

Her throat was too thick with emotion to respond.

Now. Now you do this. After I’m already gone.

She bit her lip.

But in fairness, that is precisely what I needed to hear.

They sat in awkward silence for a minute before he coughed again and decided to change the subject to something less intense. “Sherry texted me, just so you know. Said you’re dating some kind of movie star.”

She had to laugh and held her phone tightly. “Well, not quite. He’s probably too much of an oddball to have a future in the film industry. But I do think you’d like him.”

“Oh yeah?” he asked, and she could hear the happiness in his voice. “Tell me.”

They talked for another few minutes before saying goodbye. Not about anything of real consequence, not about anything supernatural or cataclysmic. Just about normal, human, everyday things. Brie couldn’t remember the last time they’d spoken for so long about anything.

When it finally started winding down, she realized she was much calmer and happier. “I’ll call you again soon, okay?”

“Not if I call you first. Take care, Brie.”

“You too, Dad.”

She hung up the phone and looked at her reflection again, this time with compassion, not blame.

“The next best decision,” she said softly.

I can do that.

She put on her pajamas and stood up, squaring her shoulders with confidence. Just before she was going to leave, on a whim, she high-fived her reflection.

The mirror immediately cracked.

Chapter Eighteen: Sunday Morning Football

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The morning sun slanted in through the east window shutters at a soft angle, warm and golden, illuminating dust particles that floated lazily in and out of the light. It was still early. Too early even for Siri to wake them with her daily anguished howls. Brie stretched, then sat up with a sudden lurch. Cameron wasn’t there.

Though it had been less than a week since they’d started sharing a bed, his absence nudged that place inside her where she’d held her anxiety for five years, when he’d disappeared from her life without a trace and left her with nothing but a waning conviction that he was ever real.

“Cameron?”

She made her way quickly to the bathroom, then froze the second she opened the door.

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