The plane climbed into the clouds.
The cabin air was freezing.
I asked a flight attendant for a blanket and wrapped it tightly around myself.
The needle mark on my arm still throbbed faintly.
The blood loss left me dizzy and cold all over.
I closed my eyes and refused to think about Evan.
I refused to think about the way he had looked at Sloane with tenderness.
I refused to think about the cold cruelty on his face when he forced me to kneel.
All ten chances were gone.
Whatever there had once been between us was over.
By the time I landed, snow was falling outside.
It was a small Nordic country, quiet and cold, where no one knew who I was.
I rented a house in a small town.
For the first three months, I could barely get out of bed.
The severe anemia, on top of the long journey, had wrecked my body completely.
Every day, I did only three things: eat, take my medicine, and sleep.
I didn’t look at my phone.
I didn’t go online.
I didn’t contact anyone
The town doctor was a kind old woman She came once a week to check on me, and every time she saw how pale I was
she would shake her head
“You need to take care of yourself properly.” she said. “It’s not just your body that needs healing. Your heart does too
I only nodded.
The pain didn’t really come back until about two weeks later.
Chapter 7
70.00%
At first, it was the scraped skin on my knees scabbing over and starting to itch.
Later, it was the sharp ache in my chest that would wake me in the middle of the night.
I got used to it.
Just like I had gotten used to swallowing my tears back when older kids bullied me at the children’s home.
Just like I had gotten used to not crying and not making a scene when I found Julian and Sloane lying na//ked togethe
in the master bedroom during my first marriage.
As long as I was still alive, life had to go on.
a year later, my health g
began to improve.
opened a small flower
Every day, I can
Life was
An
t I wanted.
nmed branches, and wrapped bouquets for customers.
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
