No More Goodbyes

Prologue

The clouds hung low, heavy and gray, as though they were holding back tears of their own. We stood on opposite ends of the empty room, strangers occupying the same space where lovers once belonged.

I turned toward the window. Outside, the sky looked exactly how I felt.

Or maybe it was only me.

A quiet footstep echoed behind me.

Leo.

The man I'd loved for eight years.

Five years apart should have been enough to dull the ache, to teach my heart better. But all it took was one step toward me, and my knees threatened to give out, just as they always had. Time had taken so much from us, yet somehow, it had never taken away the effect he had on me.

"Thank you for saying yes to this talk, Alex."

His voice broke the silence.

I forced a smile, but no words came. Maybe I'd forgotten how to speak to him. Or maybe I was afraid that if I opened my mouth, he'd hear every sleepless night, every unanswered question, every piece of me I'd spent five years trying to bury.

He slowly reached for my hand.

The warmth of his touch—something I hadn't felt in half a decade—sent a familiar ache through my chest. He placed something in my palm before gently folding my fingers over it.

"I've kept this for so long," he whispered. "I don't even know why."

His voice cracked into a humorless laugh.

"I bought it months before we broke up. I tried convincing myself I could give it to someone else..."

His eyes met mine, unwavering.

"But I couldn't."

A pause.

"Because it was never meant for her."

Another.

"It was always yours."

My heart shattered so quietly I was sure only I could hear it. How could he look at me like that after everything he'd done? How could someone break a heart so effortlessly... and still hold the pieces in his hands?

He looked away first. Just like he had five years ago.

Silence settled between us once more. Maybe he was waiting for an answer. Maybe there wasn't one. My fingers trembled as I slowly opened my hand.

The moment I saw it, I forgot how to breathe.

A princess-cut diamond ring rested against my palm, untouched by time.

Inside the band was a single engraving.

Sanders.

His last name. The name that was supposed to become mine.

Instinctively, I looked down at my left hand.

My engagement ring caught the dim light, perfectly resting on the finger where his ring should have been.

Then I looked at him.

A simple gold band circled his own ring finger.

It fit him perfectly. Just not with me.

The first raindrop struck the window.

Then another.

And another.

Before he could say anything else—

Before he could walk away from me again—

I turned and left.

This time, I chose to be the one who walked away.

The rain swallowed the sound of my footsteps, and somewhere between the doorway and the storm outside, I realized the tears on my cheeks no longer belonged to the sky.

Maybe some goodbyes are never spoken.

Maybe they're carried in unopened rings...

...and the lives we were supposed to have.