Page 41 of Love, A Curvy Girl's Guide

“Well,” she said, voice shaky, “that went better than expected.”

Ian snorted softly. “I’m not dead. So yeah, that’s a win. Wow, that was pretty intense. Are you doing okay?”

They stepped outside into the cool night air. The moon hung low, silvering the landscape. Haley leaned against the railing, the weight of the decision crashing down on her.

“Yeah, just worried about our future and Dad,” she whispered. “How about you?”

Ian stood beside her, silent for a long moment. “I’m grateful that they pardoned us, but I am worried about what the future holds. I get it. The city’s safe. Familiar. What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know.” She bit her lip. “I need to go back to my dad. But after he passes, I don’t have a lot holding me there. You have the firehouse, your family, not to mention all of the charity work you do. I understand if you want to stay… I mean, the idea of being a healer, of being needed like that…”

Ian pulled her against him. “Let’s go see your dad first thing tomorrow. We don’t need to make this decision tonight. Besides, we need to talk to my dad and see if he knows more about the curse. It’s one thing to know we have this life ahead of us. But it’s comforting to hear that maybe some of my brothers might be a part of the pack as well. They are loud, smelly, and obnoxious—but I love them.”

Haley’s heart skipped. “Of course you love them. And they love you. Let’s go back and we can decide where to go from there. I love you, Ian.”

He swooped down and swept Haley off her feet, swinging her around and laughing at her squeal of protest. Before she could tear into him, he kissed her soundly. They had been given another chance, and she wasn’t going to do anything to mess that up.

TWENTY-FIVE

The phone rang, sharp and jarring, slicing through the peaceful darkness of the bedroom.

Haley stirred, caught between the heaviness of sleep and the slow creep of dread that coiled in her gut. The shrill tone continued, insistent and demanding. Ian shifted beside her, his warmth an anchor against the sudden chill settling over her skin.

She reached for her phone with trembling fingers, her heart already racing before she even looked at the screen.

Mom.

A strangled breath caught in her throat.

She knew.

Somewhere deep inside, she already knew.

The moment stretched thin, her vision blurring as the name on the screen pulsed like a heartbeat. Her thumb hovered for a second longer than it should have before she swiped to answer.

“Mom?”

Silence.

Not complete silence, but a fractured, uneven breath. A choked sob. The sound of someone barely holding themselves together.

Then, the words that shattered everything.

"Haley..." Her mother’s voice was brittle, fragile in a way Haley had never heard before. There was no anger, no sharp-edged accusations. Just grief. Raw and unfiltered.

The air in the room seemed to disappear, the darkness pressing in on her like a weight.

Her throat tightened painfully. She forced the words out, though her lips felt numb.

“Is he gone?”

The dam broke.

Her mother’s sobs shattered the last sliver of hope clinging to Haley’s chest. A vice tightened around her lungs, making it impossible to breathe.

“No,” she whispered, but it wasn’t a denial—it was an ache, a plea to the universe to undo what had already been set in stone.

Her hands felt numb, her stomach a swirling mess of nausea. Her ears rang, muffling the sound of her mother’s voice as she tried to explain, but Haley couldn't process the words.Cardiac arrest. Peaceful. No pain.The words meant nothing. They were empty syllables, just static in the face of something too massive to comprehend.

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