“That’s fine. Tell me when you’re ready...”

She raised her eyes at him. “Do you trust me?”

“Yes.”

She liked how he didn’t hesitate.

As the streetlights came on outside, rain bobbled on the windows. There were distant voices and Jake and Liv held each other until they grew tired. It felt natural to lie down on the bed together. They cuddled and kissed.

“What do you want?” he said softly in her ear. “When the sun rises tomorrow, what will make you feel better?”

Liv thought about it for some time. Her brain was scrambled and she wanted to stop thinking about Essie. “I know it sounds odd, but I really want to write,” she said. It was no longer a dream for her, it was a burning desire. Something her dad would want for her, too. Jake’s love and patience had helped her to find it. “As for right now, I think I’d like you to stay,” she said.

35

PUMPKINS

When Jake left the next morning, they kissed on the doorstep and wished each other a good day. Back in the room, Liv wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and sat down at the desk.

She recalled one of Essie’s memes on Instagram and looked it up on her phone.

If you meet something insurmountable, don’t try and fight it. It will only leave you with bruises. The trick is to outsmart it and do something it wouldn’t expect.

Liv deleted the last eight chapters of the manuscript. She wanted to completely rewrite them and she only had seven days left. November 1 was looming. She had to set all her emotions about Essie aside, and put her last wish to rest, for good.

She had to stop trying to write like Essie.

She had to stop trying to be like Georgia.

She just wanted to be Liv again.

Essie had looked to men to provide her happy ending for her whole life and had never found it. For too many years, Georgia had relied on heroes to help save her. And it was time for her to break free.

Liv took the original dog-eared manuscript from her bag and looked through it once more. As she turned page after page, Essie’s underlined passages and notes all made more sense. Slowly, the anger she felt toward the author began to subside, overtaken by sadness and loss. Liv tried to think of her kindly.

She wrote in the notebook Jake made for her and channeled all her feelings into her work.

“I need to do this alone,” Georgia said to herself. “There are roads I want to travel. I need to look forward and not back, to make my own choices and mistakes. I’m finally letting you go. You might not be by my side, but you’ll always be in my heart. I’m ready to take my own path, not anyone else’s.”