Page 114 of Midnight Between Us
Atlas tips his chin toward the truck.“Let’s get you to Simone.I need to get back to my girls.”
His girls.
I want to ask if I can meet Everly.If I can maybe see what life looks like when it’s not running on borrowed time.But that feels like a tomorrow thing—one we haven’t earned yet.Perhaps once whatever is coming finally passes, we can breathe without looking over our shoulders.
If that day ever comes.
ChapterFifty-Seven
Keir
Hopper invites me to dinner,and Malerick offers to drive me to Simone’s so Atlas can go home to his wife and baby.During dinner, I learned that Atlas is Maddy’s favorite uncle, but if I work hard enough, I might be able to become her fourth favorite.
Everyone laughed, but the blow landed a little off-center.Like I’ve just now realized the distance I’ve created hasn’t just cost me time—it’s cost me a place.I’m not in the center of anyone’s world anymore.Not even on the outskirts.I made myself disposable.
They just learned to live without me, and I don’t blame them.I did it first.Now, it’s on me to undo the damage.If I still can.
It’s around midnight when Mal finally drops me at Sim’s place.
“If you need to crash at my place, let me know,” he says.“We’ll figure out your trip tomorrow.Wherever they might send you so you’re safe until ...”He shrugs because we don’t know if there will ever be an end to this.
I salute him and walk away.What’s the point of me admitting that I will stay up all night to convince her to let me stay?Or at least spending one last night in the same space as her before the final goodbye.
When I enter, the house is quiet.Porch light off, the curtains drawn.The stillness somehow tastes like finality—or I’m just feeling like this might be an end to something we couldn’t begin.
I stop at the edge of the yard, just where the trees begin to thin out.Moonlight spills across the grass in long silver streaks.I don’t move, not yet.Not until I see her.
Simone sits alone on the back steps.She’s barefoot, knees hugged to her chest, a sweater slipping off one shoulder like she doesn’t even notice.Her hair’s pulled up in something loose and careless, like she forgot to finish the thought.She’s staring out at nothing—like she’s trying to see beyond the dark.Or maybe she’s listening for it.
I don’t say her name.I don’t call out.
I just walk, slow and quiet, like I’m trying hard not to disturb her.Until I’m close enough that she can feel me.
She doesn’t look surprised.Doesn’t flinch.
“You made it,” she murmurs, voice barely brushing the air.
I drop to sit beside her.I don’t touch her, not yet.But fuck if I don’t want to ...if I don’t want to kiss her.
But I don’t.There’s history stretched tight between us.So much.It’s taut with what we didn’t say.What we never dared admit.Actually, with what I didn’t want to say for so long.So many missed‘I love yous,’ you’re my everything ...I can’t live without you.
I say none of that because it’s meaningless now.It was important then, now ...I need to earn it all again.
Silence opens up.There’s no tension.It’s as if the universe itself is holding its breath.
“How was it?”she asks.“Meeting him.Lyndon.”
“You knew?”
She bobs her head, still not looking at me.“Yeah.He called earlier.I didn’t think you’d go all the way to London to meet him.”
“I was in London?”I’m confused because I knew we were traveling, but ...I mean, was it even legal?I didn’t have my passport with me.
She huffs out a laugh—genuine, surprised by herself.It cracks something in me.
“You’re just fucking with me,” I mutter, but I’m already grinning.
“Yeah.I heard a couple of those flights were just simulators.”She can’t stop laughing.
