Two months later…

“It’s here! It’s here!”

I pop my head out from my book and watch as Daphni skips through the open doors leading to the back patio, waving her phone in her hand. I shoot out of my seat and rush toward her.

“Well, what does it say?” I ask impatiently as she continues to skip around in circles.

“I didn’t open it yet. I wanted you to see it first!” she sings as she finally comes to a stop.

I grab for her phone and scan the email informing me that my LSAT results are in. After I had taken the exams, I had asked Daphni to sync my email to her phone so she could let me know the instant my results arrived.

After leaving Daphni's tour, I had quickly learned that having internet access only made me miserable. For a solid week, I had spent hours each night looking through social media trying to catch glimpses of Liam in pictures of Daphni. After my sixth night without sleep, I had banned myself from the internet and even trashed my phone. Though I had been a complete emotional wreck, I had forced myself to obsessively study for hours, using the distraction of cramming for the LSATs to serve as a buffer against thinking about Liam. Today I would discover if all that work had paid off.

After logging into my online account, I wait for what feels like an eternity before I can finally access my results through the portal. Once I see my score, I drop down into the seat behind me and take a long exhale. I close my eyes and let my body sink into the cushioned seat. Four years of undergrad and late nights studying, weekends spent locked away in the library followed by four months of memorizing legal terminology, endless practice theory tests and now all that work had culminated in a three-number score. A score that would determine my future. Three numbers.

“Oh my God, Gabby! Just tell me!” Daphni squeals as she reaches for the phone, her eyes widening as she reads the results for herself.

“Holy shit. You got a 178.” Daphni drops her phone on the table and jumps up and down before throwing herself onto my lap and giving me a big kiss on the cheek. “You got a 178! You got a 178!”

I paste a smile on my face, but inside I feel nothing. For years, I had been dreaming of this moment. And now that it was here? Nothing. I feel empty and hollow, and I know it’s because the one person who I wanted to tell and celebrate with is not with me. And it’s no one’s fault but my own. So when I read the score, instead of feeling victorious, I feel like I just got sucker punched in the gut.

Daphni looks at me, her bright smile fading as she watches me. “Gabby. You got a freaking 178! Why aren’t you celebrating? Screaming? Sacrificing the small child you must have promised to have gotten a freaking 178!?”

I shrug my shoulders and Daphni slides off my lap and takes the empty chair next to me. “Aren’t you happy?” she asks, her voice soft.

“I think I am?” I answer truthfully. “I mean, I’ve been waiting for this day forever. But now it’s here and I just feel so…empty inside.”

“Will you let me say it?” Daphni asks after a long pause. But I don’t need her to say it, I already know.

I sigh as I feel my lips start to tremble. “What did I do, Daphni?”

“Baby girl, you did what you learned from mom and dad. And from Lawrence and psycho Fiona and…me and any number of the idiots I’ve dated.” She shrugs her shoulder. “You decided to cut your losses and run instead of letting yourself fall.”

“God, Daphni,” I moan. “Maybe we’re just cursed.”

“Gabby, we’re not cursed. We’re just idiots.” She looks down at my score on her phone again and gives me a sad smile. “Well, at least when it comes to love.”

“I think I love him,” I whisper before letting a single tear escape and fall down my cheek.

Daphni wipes it away with her pink fingernail. “I know you do. It’s not too late to tell him that.”

I shrug my shoulders helplessly. “He’ll never want to talk to me again.” Dropping my head into my hands, I let out another frustrated groan. “I said some pretty terrible things.”

I feel Daphni cover my hand with hers. “Gabby, if he were a good enough man for you—the sweetest, kindest person I know—to fall in love with, then I know he will be able to forgive you.” A hesitant, bashful smile rises to her lips as she adds, “Besides, I bet nothing you did even comes close to half the shit I pulled on the poor guy!”

I choke out a laugh as I wipe the tears from my eyes.

Locking her eyes on mine, Daphni’s face turns serious. “Gabby, I don’t want you to live a life wondering if you made the wrong choice. I don’t want you to live with that kind of regret,” she says, her voice soft and pained. I give her hand a comforting squeeze, knowing how painful it is for her to talk about her past and the time she lost the love of her life.

Putting on a brave face, I nod. “Okay,” I say resolutely.

Daphni quirks her brow, a smile returning on her face. “Okay?”

“God, how do I even find him?”

Daphni smiles, the excitement reappearing in her bright eyes. “That I can actually help with!”