The walk up to Rory’s apartment feels like a death march. I couldn’t call her to let her know I was coming. I didn’t know if she’d actually see me. And I’m sick at the thought that Liam may be in there with her. After what happened yesterday, I have no right to question who Rory spends time with. And after what I’m about to do today, I have no doubt that I’ll probably never be with Rory again.

I knock on the door and try not to look at the peephole. I can hear the jingling from the tags on Skippy’s collar. I stare at the doorknob, waiting for it to move, but nothing happens.

I step forward and lean my face closer to the doorframe. “Rory, please open the door.”

Skippy lets out a soft bark followed by a desperate whine. I hear her shushing him, but he responds with another baleful howl. The doorknob begins to turn and I step back so I don’t startle her. Skippy wags his tail and whimpers as I greet him with a good scratching around his scruff.

“Skippy, get inside.”

Rory issues this order a few times before he listens to her. She turns to me and fixes me with a dark glare replete with five years of resentment. After a moment, she steps aside and waves me in.

“I know I’m probably the last person you want to see right now.”

“I had to call the hospital myself to try to find out if she was alive and, of course, they wouldn’t tell me anything. Yeah, you could have at least texted me.”

“She’s fine. It’s just a broken arm. How’s your head?”

“Now you care?” She scowls at me for a moment, letting her disdain sink in before she snatches the Sierra Nevada box off the coffee table and holds it out to me. “I don’t want this.”

I clench my jaw against the wave of nausea that sweeps through me as I take the box from her. “She wasn’t pregnant. She was never pregnant. She was lying.”

“Thanks for clearing that up.”

I heave a deep sigh and let it out slowly as I look her in the eye. “Rory, I came here because I told you I would tell you the truth and I intend to keep my word.”

“The truth about what?” she demands. “It’s over Houston. There is no truth that needs to be spoken anymore.”

I shake my head. “I wish that were true.” She watches intently as I reach into my back pocket and retrieve the white envelope containing Hallie’s suicide letter. “She left a note.”

She stares at me for a moment, her face contorted in a mixture of horror and confusion.

“Not Tessa. Hallie.”

The confusion quickly morphs to a fury I’ve never seen, then she pushes me square in the chest. “I hate you!”

“I didn’t want you to read it until you were strong enough.”

Skippy barks as Rory tries to pummel my chest. I tilt my head back, out of her reach, then I drop the letter so I can grab her wrists.

“That’s not for you to decide!” she says, the anguish choking her words. “How could you keep that from me?”

“I was just trying to protect you.”

She groans so loudly it sounds like a thunderous roar. “I wish you would stop protecting me! If it weren’t for your stupid protection, I wouldn’t be picking up the pieces of my life again.”

I grit my teeth at the truth in her words. “I need you to read it while I’m here. I… I won’t leave until you’ve read the whole thing. Then you’ll understand why.”

She yanks her wrists out of my grasp and gently pushes Skippy out of the way so she can snatch the letter off the floor. She heads to the sofa and the dog hops onto the cushion next to her. I sit on the coffee table, facing her so I can see her reaction when she reads the letter. I know the moment she opens that envelope, everything is going to hell. And even if she claims to hate me and resents my attempts to protect her, she’s going to need someone to hold, or someone to punch, when she’s done reading Hallie’s words.

Her hands tremble violently as she stares at my name scrawled on the outside of the envelope. Judging by the tears rolling down her cheeks, she recognizes the handwriting. I hold my breath as I watch her slip the folded five-page letter out of the envelope. She unfolds it slowly and covers her mouth the moment she sees it’s genuine. Clutching the letter to her chest, she closes her eyes as she takes a few deep breaths. Finally, she holds it up and begins reading the words that changed my life forever. The words that gave me a purpose and a love like no other while also destroying everything I knew to be true.