Page 143 of The Perfect Love

“Is she awake?”

Rae nods. “Yep. I was just going to find someone else to keep her company. She needs that.”

So I’d assume.

I’ve never dealt with anything like this before. Somehow, I made it through middle and high school without any of my friends attempting suicide. I remember hearing about a couple of kids at school who had, but I didn’t know them, so even though it was sad, there was no personal connection.

When I push the door open, I’m greeted with more light than I was expecting. Gray, late afternoon, winter light streams into the room, mixing with the bright white hospital lights. Every single one in the room is on.

“Hi,” I say when I get around the curtain.

Hyla looks at me with big eyes. “Hi.”

I’m not familiar with someone attempting suicide, but I’m familiar with feeling lost in the darkness. I know what I needed when I was struggling, even if I didn’t recognize it at the time. Someone to crawl into the darkness and sit there with me. So, I make my way over to her bed and sit down beside her, resting my head against hers.

“I love you.”

She sniffs and takes my hand. “I love you too. I’m—”

“Don’t. Do not apologize to me. The darkness has a way of whispering things that we somehow believe as the truth. Don’t let the darkness win.”

“I’m ready to fight,” she whispers, wiping away tears.

“Good. Because you’ve got an army at your back.”

She turns her head, and I meet her gaze. I see the strength in her eyes along with the broken shards that got her here.

“I was worried you might hate me.”

“What?” A surprised laugh slips out. “Why would I hate you?”

“Because I hurt Trevor. And I’d hate anyone who hurt him.”

I arch a brow. “Do you hate Sarah?”

“Of course not.”

“But she hurt him once.”

“She wasn’t trying to.”

I look right into her eyes as I speak. “Neither were you.”

Her lips tremble for a second, then she sucks in a deep breath, a ghost of a smile appearing. “I’m so glad you’re going to be my sister-in-law one day.”

That gets an actual laugh out of me. “You’re confident.”

“Confident in the love I see between you two. For the record, I saw him with Sarah. What you two have is different. It’s stronger. It’s more. He adores you. And I’m taking partial credit because I’ve been manifesting this ever since he first told me about you.”

I eye her suspiciously. “Which was when?”

“The morning after you met… and freaked out.”

I run a hand down my face. “And you were rooting for us based on that?”

“I could hear it in his voice. It’s like he already knew what you were going to mean to him.”

I slowly shake my head, but I can’t deny I felt it too.

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