COLEEN

The next morning felt different.

I woke up feeling lighter than I had in weeks. I felt like all the inner turmoil I’d been going through had finally settled.

Like I’d been drowning and now I was comfortably treading water. I felt good about it, not in a giddy sense but more of a calm and relaxed manner.

I kept replaying the night before in my head. The way Hayden had shown up. The way he didn’t beg or demand or even try to explain things away. He just... showed up, took ...