Again, there was no response. All he could do was continue to search. He looked for over two hours, walking up and down each pier and checking every store and restaurant.

He kept texting and calling her, too.

But she wouldn’t pick up.

Tia refused to allow herself to think of anything except what she had to do next.

After she landed in Burbank, she had to take a rideshare to Maxi’s.

Once she got to Maxi’s, she would have to pack her clothes and write out detailed instructions for Seth to be able to take proper care of Kiki. But he’d watched her and helped her enough with Maxi’s bird that she had no doubt he’d be able to do it. Maxi would be back before too long, anyway.

She also refused to let herself feel anything.

She refused to picture Seth sitting at the restaurant where she’d left him, wondering where she’d gone.

She refused to imagine how much she was going to miss Kiki and Silver Springs and Aiyana.

She’d been a fool to let herself get so involved with a man who wasn’t emotionally accessible. She’d known the danger from the beginning, and yet she’d still pulled the pin from that grenade.

And now it had exploded.

But all she could do was pick up the pieces and, once again, try to move on. She wasn’t sure how she would do that. She was out of her depth.

You’ll figure it out. Just put one foot in front of the other.

That was how she’d gotten through everything else, wasn’t it?

Except the accident.

It was Seth who’d pulled her through that.

After her Uber driver dropped her off, she rushed into Maxi’s house and threw her clothes and other belongings into her suitcase. The flight from San Francisco to LA had only taken an hour, but she’d had to wait quite a while before she could even get on a flight, and it’d taken almost two hours to reach Silver Springs from LA once she landed. If Seth had left San Francisco after eating with his friends at Scoma’s, and it was a six-hour drive to bring Cal’s truck back, he should arrive around midnight.

She’d only be two hours ahead of him, and she was definitely hoping to be gone when he arrived.

She should’ve left well before Christmas—as soon as she felt herself falling in love with him.

After she carried her suitcase out of the house, she removed the expensive diamond earrings he’d given her, returned them to the velvet box they’d come in and set them out along with the mirrored trees, instructions for Kiki and a note that she hoped would be the last communication they’d ever need to have.