Page 130 of The Fate Of Us

Her head dipped to reach mine, levelling our heights as a motherly smile stretched acrossher mouth. “And thank you, for writing my new favourite book series.”

The words hung there, in the gap between us, unharmed by the chaos that was only a fewfeet behind us. I hadn’t known it before now, but it was as if her words were a signal, the starting horn for the rest of my life. That picture that was titled The Unknown, the one that hung in some abandoned gallery up in my mind, it was painted with a shade of prospect, sprinkled with hope and sealed with freedom.

It was all the beautiful metaphors that I hadn’t had the time to understand, finally makingsense.

It was years of self-doubt parting, making way for the path I hadn’t dared to trek.

It was my dream. Clear as day.

I reached Eleanor’s warm gaze, her nod being the piston to get my feet moving. I shuffledmy body around her and set my sights on the exit, on the car that had dropped me off, on the life I was finally leaving.

No one batted an eyelid as I left, no one seemed to notice, too caught up with the day tosee me sneak into the car and shuffle along the leather seat.

I muttered an apology to the driver who I’d startled as I slammed the door closed, giving him a few seconds before I caught my breath and said through a teary voice,“Sunfall Pier.”

Chapter thirty-five

Nate

The murmurs and whispers started almost immediately after she left.

“Can you believe she just walked out?”

“Wait until Eleanor finds out.”

“How selfish is she?”

“So ungrateful.”

I didn’t pay attention to any of them. Couldn’t. All I could do was smile, rememberingthe look on her face when she finally chose to leave. Her eyes got wider, a certain flicker of realisation glinting across them, and her whole body shifted, straitened out, and stood taller.

Proud was an understatement. To say I was proud of her wouldn’t have covered thefeelings I had circling me right now.

After word got out, the crew started packing away what they’d spent the morning settingup, mixed emotions of grief and joy all playing on their faces. I spied Sebastian and Eleanor up ahead, both in conversation. I didn’t have to guess about what they were talking about; I’d seen Eleanor catch Addy just before she left, before the author turned around with the biggest smile plastered on her mouth.

I slowed my steps as I passed them, slow enough to catch Eleanor saying somethingabout a difference in artistic opinions between her and Addy. Sebastian, for the first time since starting the shoot, looked angry. Furious. He’d made it clear on several occasions that he loved Addy and her talent, so I’m going to bet that letting her go was only going to make him spiral.

“Are we gonna have to re-shoot everything? Re-cast Anastasia’s role?” Seb asked, notknowing what to do with his hands.

I shifted my eyes to the pair as I walked, watching Eleanor put a hand on Seb’s shoulder.“No, it’ll be okay. I’ll rework some stuff in the script and we’ll use what we’ve got to—”

Her voice quietened the further down the field I walked, the corner of the trailer I’d beenassigned to this morning poking out from behind the others. I caught Amber and Asher by their trailers as I passed them, giving them both a friendly nod, acknowledging what had happened, before jumping up the steps and pulling open my trailer door.

I didn’t know if Addy had told them anything, about why she quit, but I didn’t want to goasking, just in case she hadn’t. That was her story to tell, not mine. And to be honest, I wasn’t up for socialising right now, not when I wasn’t contracted to do so.

I was still reeling from what had happened, naturally, and despite my talk with Alice,things just weren’t clearing up.

That picture of us was still muddied and tampered with. I couldn’t make out what was usanymore. I couldn’t figure out who we were supposed to be. I’d convinced myself that wallowing in how much I’d fucked up wouldn’t make things right, that rotting in that hotel room would only distance us more, but after a call with Jacob and him kindly reminding me that when he nearly lost Flo, wallowing was what helped him finally realise what he needed to do to make things right, I stayed in bed.

But after this morning, having Addy near me again, having her confide in me like sheused to do… it made me question whether there was anything that could break us. Truly break us. Completely separate our paths and never have them cross again.

“No,” I whispered without realising, as I stood in the doorway of the trailer, my train ofthought barreling down the tracks that made me stop in mine, my eyes going hazy in the mirror that was hung up in front of me.

Before I knew what I was doing, I was running back down the steps and out of thetrailer, my feet taking me somewhere and moving quicker than my thoughts. I found myself in the parking lot, my head spinning, my cheeks feeling hot, until my eyes landed on the car I’d driven to get here, my hands now fumbling in my pockets for the keys.

I felt like things were moving at two times the speed when I started the car, like the worldhad sped up its rotation, the hours turned into minutes, and the minutes became seconds.

And for once, the L.A. traffic was behaving; the roads were somewhat clear as I shotdown the Santa Monica freeway, the iconic blue arch leading to the pier coming into view shortly after. I wasn’t proud of the right bank I made onto the PCH highway, but I missed the red light that would have kept me there for God knows how long.

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