Page 93 of All Your Tomorrows

“Oh, sweetie. It’s exactly what he would’ve wanted,” she assured me.

I reached for her hand. She let me take it, standing as I guided it to my chest, right over Kyler’s heart. “Do you feel him?”

She closed her eyes and nodded, silently weeping as his heart beat beneath her hand.

“I’ll take good care of it,” I assured her.

She looked me in the eyes. “I have no doubt about that.” She eventually removed her hand and sat back in the seat. “Thank you for that. I think I really needed it.”

“I’m here for you. Any time,” I assured her.

“Thank you…but I was hoping you might be able to do one other thing for me,” she said.

“Anything.”

“Will you speak at Ky’s services?” she asked.

“I didn’t miss them?”

“We already had a private burial, but we’re holding off on the services until you can be there,” she said. “Do you think you’ll be up to speaking?”

I choked on a sob. “I’d be honored.”

She nodded before standing up. “I think I might have overstayed my welcome,” she said. “Not to mention broken the rules by telling you the truth.”

“Your son was good about telling me the truth, so I wouldn’t expect anything less from his mother,” I said, trying to smile through my grief.

Once she left the room, I cried for a long time. I hadn’t felt that alone since meeting Kyler. He’d come into my life like a whirlwind and taught me so much about the person I was and the person I deserved to be loved by. Now he was gone, and even though I had a new heart—hisheart—it felt completely and utterly broken. I didn’t know if I’d ever recover from that kind of pain.

Maybe I never would.

CHAPTER 24

“Take it easy,” Izzy said as she helped me through our front door.

“I’m fine,” I assured her.

“Well, your mom will kick my ass if I don’t watch your every move like I promised.”

Izzy had taken a leave of absence to stay with me through my recovery. And, my mom had taken a closer assignment so she could stay with us on the weekends.

I looked around our empty living room. My eyes were pulled to Kyler’s sofa. I envisioned him lying there, unable to sleep.

“I’m gonna go grab your stuff from the car,” Izzy said. “Do you need anything?”

I shook my head.

“I want you to sit down. Gather your strength for the flight of steps upstairs.”

Once she disappeared outside, I took in the empty room. The silence. I hadn’t realized how much space Kyler had taken up. His smile. His laugh. His gazes. I moved to the sofa and slowly lowered myself down, careful not to irritate my incision as I did. The bottle of cologne I’d bought sat on the table. I reached for it and lifted it to my nose. Tears pricked my eyes as the smell of it brought upon a barrage of memories. And, as hard as it was to let those memories in, I needed to feel close to him. I needed to feel like my whole world hadn’t collapsed. I placed the bottle back on the table and lay down.

I covered my face with my hands and sobbed. Life was so unfair. A girl who’d killed Kylerandattacked me got to live. Why not Kyler?

Though there may never be proof of what Melanie had done in Kyler’s car, she was currently in prison on aggravated assault charges thanks to the cameras on the gift shop next to the café. Shehadbeen the one who attacked me with a wooden board Christmas morning. It’s why she pled guilty and received ten years as opposed to the maximum thirty she could’ve been facing by fighting it in court.

I hated Melanie.

I hated her for what she’d done to him.

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