After we hung up, I realized Shelby was right, as usual, and this time I wasn’t going to ignore her advice. It was time to go back out into the world and do what I could to move on.

There were other phone calls: one from Zoe Covington, who invited me to stay for lunch after I groomed Nemo, and two from celebrities that I’d heard of but never met. Noah again, doing what he had promised, even though he was furious with me. This made me feel even more guilty that he was so honorable and kept his word and I just generally sucked.

But I wasn’t going to let that get me down. The next morning I was cleaning out my van and reached under the passenger seat and felt something furry. I pulled out Sunshine’s teddy bear. I felt bad that I hadn’t looked for it sooner and decided to return it to Gladys immediately.

I probably should have texted or called first, but I wanted to see Noah’s house, even from a distance. It might have been pathetic, but I wasn’t claiming the high moral ground here. When I got to the gate, my heart pounded in anticipation that Noah might have told them not to let me in. But they just waved me through, which was also a testament to how much time I’d spent here.

When I got to Gladys’s house, I gripped the steering wheel tightly, steeling myself. And I was not ready to see his house, even though I’d been trying to psych myself up for it. It sent pangs of emotion through me when I caught a glimpse. There were people outside, and I guessed they were part of the construction crew. I wondered if he was home. Probably not—it was the middle of the day. For all I knew he might have been traveling for a movie.

I went up to the front door, and when Gladys answered it, I fell apart. I handed her the teddy bear while sobbing, and she looked at me and said, “Better get in here. What’s gotten into you?”

She took me into the living room, and I spent ten minutes trying to fill her in on what had happened in between sobs, but it mostly came out like, “And I love him and”—hiccup—“he never wants to see me again”—sob—“and I didn’t even apologize to him”—wailing—“I ruined everything” until she finally interrupted me.

“Do you know how rare true love is? And I’m assuming that’s what you think you feel for that movie star?”

“Uh-huh.” I nodded.