Page 37 of Mending Hearts
My chest aches.
Pride.
Fear.
Love.
All tangled together.
Rosa breaks the silence. “I’m seeing someone,” she says.
I glance at her. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she says, smiling. “He’s… good. Kind. Annoyingly stable.”
I raise a brow. “Annoyingly?”
“Very,” she confirms.
I nod. “Does he make you happy?”
She doesn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“Then that’s all that matters.”
She smiles, then turns the question back on me. “Maybe you should put yourself out there.”
I stare at the screen, now filled with postgame analysis. “I don’t know if I can,” I say honestly.
When Ollie left, I dug my heels in. Refused to file for divorce. Refused to let it be officially over, even when my bandmates gently suggested I should protect myself.
Ollie never asked for it either.
The media have never even suspected we’re married. As far as the world knows, Oliver Marshall has always been single.
Have I been clinging to something that’s already gone?
Maybe seeing him again was a sign. Not to run back, but to let go. To stop living like my life is on pause, waiting for a version of the past that doesn’t exist anymore.
Rosa reaches over and squeezes my hand. “Just think about it.”
I nod. “I will.”
The thought won’t leave me.
Divorce papers.
Finality.
Freedom—for both of us.
The idea hurts, but so does staying like this.
The credits roll on the broadcast, and the apartment feels quiet again, the fog pressing gently against the windows like it’s listening.
I lean back into the couch, close my eyes, and let myself feel everything without pushing it away.
Love.
