Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 109318 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109318 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
It was for her own good.
This was to keep her safe.
Repeating those assurances to himself, over and over, was the only thing that kept him walking upright until the elevator doors closed behind him and he slid down the wall to the floor, head buried in his hands. “Melody.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
December 22
Melody never expected to be grateful for the camera trailing five feet behind her on the sidewalk, but here she was. Without its presence, she probably would have stayed in bed for the entirety of the three days that followed Beat breaking up with her. Although he hadn’t technically broken up with her, because they’d never really been together in the first place, had they? Reconciling that fact with the aftermath of destruction in her chest wasn’t easy—they’d felt like boyfriend and girlfriend—but she didn’t really have a choice, did she?
A strong wind carried down the block lined with brownstones, whipping the ends of her white woolen scarf and tickling the newer, shorter fringe of her bangs. She’d cut them herself last night after watching two measly TikToks on the subject. They didn’t turn out terrible, but she wasn’t winning any prizes for precision, either. They only reached the center of her forehead, instead of her eyebrows, where she’d been aiming. There she was—a walking cliché. Break her heart and watch her desperately find a way to make matters worse.
Oh well.
They would grow back. Her heart probably wouldn’t. Or if it did grow back, it would be some awkwardly stitched-up Frankenstein version of it.
“Miss Gallard, the crowd is assembling quickly,” said a member of the security team. One of six who was flanking her on the way down the sidewalk after a trip to the bookstore to pick up her latest project. An old copy of The Giver that desperately needed to be restored to its former glory. “Do you mind walking a little faster?”
“Sure,” she said, looking down at her feet and ordering them to comply. They could barely manage a slow slog, let alone a brisk pace, but she did her best, everything hurting. Everything. The sockets of her eyeballs pounded, her ribs were sore, fingers stiff, skin cold. The world around her looked like fake plastic movie sets. What happened?
What happened?
Melody realized she’d stopped walking completely when Danielle left Joseph’s side and rested a palm in the center of her back. “Mel, are you okay?”
No. I can’t even feel the package in my hand.
Up ahead, a group of onlookers were taking pictures of her with their camera phones. On the way to the bookstore, she’d seen herself on television through the window of a pub under the headline, “What Caused the Split?” For the last three days, every time she ventured outside, people asked, “Where is Beat? Why did you break up?” It was constant. On the internet, theories were flying. They ranged from an unwanted pregnancy to another woman to a difference of opinion on pizza toppings.
“Mel,” Danielle prompted, softly. “Do you want me to call an Uber?”
Before Melody could answer, Danielle’s phone started to ring. Again. It had been ringing nonstop for the last three days, probably the network wondering why she wasn’t doing anything to bolster ratings. Apparently cutting her bangs didn’t count.
Danielle sighed and answered the phone. She shot Melody a glance and then turned away. “She’s surrounded by security,” Melody thought she overheard. Followed by, “Turn on the live stream and see for yourself . . . well, if you never turn it off, then why do you keep calling to check in? You can see everything that’s happening. You can see she’s safe . . .”
Security started ushering her forward then, obviously having given up on her actual feet. Come on, she could do this. Walk. Her apartment was only two more blocks, long though they were. Bracing her shoulders, Melody reached down deep for some strength and worked up a brisk pace, setting one foot in front of the other. Security moved with her, Joseph taking up the rear of their posse. People ran alongside them in the street or stopped their cars in the middle of the road to watch her pass, their curiosity about the breakup coming across loud and clear, even when they didn’t ask.
Join the club.
She had no idea what happened.
One minute, she’d been on cloud nine, in love with the most magical human ever to be created and lucky enough to have her affections returned. The next, the lights had gone out and she’d been surrounded by impenetrable darkness.
When they passed the community garden on her right, Melody knew they were only half a block away from her destination and she glanced up, hoping that seeing her door might give her the final impetus she needed to get inside, away from the cloying curiosity. But instead of seeing her door, she saw a person instead. A woman.