MUSE // A Harry Styles Story

Prologue

"You're leaving me?"

Lia must have misunderstood. Papa must have misspoken.

"I can't stay. I can't be in this house without her." His voice was flat, defeated.

"What about the cottage? You could stay there for a while, until you're ready to come home."

Her own voice was becoming desperate, whining, and she didn't care. That her father could leave her, leave France, so soon after her mother's death, was incomprehensible.

"Papa, it's only been two months. Please go to Pampelonne and stay in the cottage. Sail, let the wind and the waves comfort you. I've been three times since she died, despite the cold, and it was good."

He shook his head slowly, eyes downcast, his usually broad shoulders collapsed in a dejected slump.

"Lia, it's done. I've bought the tickets. This house will always be here for you, the beach cottage too, and I'll hope to see you in Guadeloupe as often as possible."

She shook. She cried. Her head throbbed as all the anger and sadness of the past months exploded from her.

"Do it, then. Abandon me, abandon our home. I can't stop you. But I won't be visiting, I won't be calling. Why should I, when you obviously don't care about me or how I feel. I lost her too." Her voice cracked, and she took a moment before continuing. "I won't stay here with you. I'm going to Paris this afternoon."

As she left the living room her father called out after her.

"Lia LaRoche, come back here right now!"

"No!"

"I am not abandoning you!"

She reached the staircase landing, almost tripping over a loose red tile, nearly blinded by her tears.

"Lia, I can't live here without her!"

Her father's voice broke and faded as she reached the door to her room, slamming it behind her. Knees buckling, she slid down its length. She whispered through the sobs that rocked her body.

"Neither can I... neither can I."