Chapter 6

Ellie POV

The air in Maine didn't taste like stale city exhaust or the cloying sweetness of expensive perfume. It tasted like salt and pine.

I had been walking aimlessly through the small coastal town, letting the cold wind numb the ache in my ankle, when I saw the sign.

Croft Gallery.

I pushed the door open. A bell chimed, not a jarring digital buzz, but a sharp, clear ring.

The space was warm. It smelled of turpentine and drying canvas-a scent that used to be my entire world before Marcus decided my world should only be him.

A man was standing at an easel in the back, his back to me. He wasn't wearing a bespoke suit or a stiff collar. He was wearing a paint-splattered sweater that looked like it had seen three winters too many.

He turned.

Julian Croft.

He looked older than he did at NYU, but his eyes were the same. Calm. Deep. The kind of eyes that saw structures, not just surfaces.

"We're closing soon," he said softly, wiping his hands on a rag.

Then he stopped. The rag fell to the floor.

"Ellie?"

I tried to smile, but my face felt stiff, like a mask I'd forgotten how to wear. "Hi, Julian."

He didn't look at my cane. He looked at me. "I heard you were... I heard things changed."

"That's one way to put it," I said.

He walked toward me, but he stopped a few feet away, respecting a boundary I hadn't even realized I'd set. "You look..." He paused, his gaze tracing the line of my jaw as if reading a blueprint. "Resilient."

I walked past him, drawn to a canvas in the corner. It was facing the wall, half-covered by a drop cloth.

I don't know why I touched it. Maybe because it was the only thing hiding in a room full of display pieces.

I pulled the cloth back.

My breath hitched.

It was a sketch. Charcoal and oil. It was unfinished, raw. It was a woman standing on a bridge, looking at a skyline that didn't exist yet.

It was me. From our junior year design studio.

I looked at the bottom corner. The date was seven years ago.

Written in small, precise script: For Ellie. Eternal Beauty.

I felt a fracture open in my chest. Seven years ago, Marcus was busy buying Izzy drinks at the student union. Seven years ago, Julian was drawing me like I was a masterpiece.

"I never finished it," Julian said, his voice low, hovering right behind my ear. "I didn't think I had the right."

"Why did you keep it?" I whispered.

"Because some things are worth keeping," he said. "Even if they're just memories."

Outside, the sky broke open.

Thunder rattled the windowpanes. It wasn't a warning; it was a declaration of war.

I flinched, my hand flying to my chest. The sound transported me instantly back to the Montauk Highway. The blinding rain. The screech of taillights. The abandonment.

My legs gave out.

I didn't hit the floor.

Julian caught me. His arms were solid, warm. He didn't hold me like he was possessing me. He held me like he was stabilizing a crumbling foundation.

"It's okay," he murmured, his voice a vibration against my spine. "Just a storm. You're safe."

He guided me to a velvet armchair. He didn't ask questions. He went to the back and returned with a mug of hot tea.

"Chamomile," he said. "You used to drink it before final reviews."

I stared at the steam rising from the cup. He remembered my tea order from college. Marcus couldn't remember my blood type.

"I'm sorry," I said, my voice shaking. "I'm a mess."

"You're not a mess, Ellie," Julian said, sitting on a stool opposite me. He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. "You're a survivor."

For a moment, the only sound was the scratching of charcoal against paper. I watched his hand move-quick, decisive strokes-while I focused on breathing.

He tore the sheet from his pad and slid it across the table.

It was a sketch he must have done in the last sixty seconds. It was me, sitting in the chair, holding the tea.

But in the drawing, I didn't look broken. I looked peaceful.

"This is how I see you," he said.

Tears pricked my eyes. Hot, fast tears.

I stood up, ignoring the pain in my ankle, and I did something I hadn't done in years. I initiated a hug.

I wrapped my arms around his neck.

He froze for a millisecond, then wrapped his arms around my waist. He held me through the thunder. He held me until my shivering stopped.

"You deserve to be loved, Ellie," he whispered into my hair. "Not managed. Loved."

His words didn't just comfort me. They severed the last thread connecting me to Marcus.