My Guardian's Kiss, A Bitter Sweet Goodbye

a P

murmurs that drifted through the shared wall. Sleep was a distant, mocking concept. I got up, restless, and stumbled onto the balcony. The cool

nder my eyes. Isabela, radiant and annoyingly cheerful, was a

out his birthday party. What kind of cake do you th

, marred her smooth skin. It was a small detail, but it

d told him, my voice full of childish wonder. He' d ruffled my hair. "Then we'll celebrate every one of your birthdays by the sea.

retract his lov

t me off from the kitchen. "Isabela, if you want to k

ht Cora would know best, darling.

don't really know Cole at all." I pushed back my chair

arp and cold, stopped me

beat. "I have to go to the emb

a? Are you traveling somewhere exc

pproval. "Cora, I've told you. No serious boyfriends

ed the protest forming on my tongue. What was the p

normal for her to be interested in boys. Don't be such an old fuddy-duddy." She looped

into fists. Eighteen. My entire eighteenth year, my only eight

th rot away in this ho

s bone-chilling. I remembered rainy days when Cole would pick me up from school, shielding me under h

e storm, but

ng myself to step into the rain. I

ctively hovered over Cole' s social media icon. He had just p

, in full bridal attire, stood on a windswept cliff, their hands clasped. His smile

ngratulations. "Congratulations, Cole

st. But there was nothing. Just a hollow numbness.