𝔼𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕘𝕣𝕖𝕖𝕟

Chapter 25 : Home Sweet Home

As I walk up the stairs to our room, I think about the time I will be spending with Ivy, alone.

Usually, when you like someone’s company, the idea of having a few days alone with them seems fun. Except this is Ivy we’re talking about, and even though things between us have gotten better, being in that house without Tyler is probably the last thing she wants.

I knock twice to let Ivy know I’m coming in. I open the door, but my feet freeze.

Ivy is sitting on my bed, holding my guitar, her fingers moving over the strings, creating random melodies.

I force myself to move toward my bag and start packing, eager to leave.

We continue like this for about ten minutes, both doing our own thing in comfortable silence, until she breaks it.

“I don’t want to go home without Tyler,” she says, her gaze on the guitar.

Knowing how hard it is for her to open up, I keep it light. “Tell me something I don’t know, V.” I smile, eyes focused on the shirt I’m folding.

The melody stops, but she takes a minute to answer.

“Last time he left, I tried to kill myself.”

The words take a moment to register, and when they do, I grip the shirt tightly. I look at Ivy, who lifts her head to meet my gaze.

“Bet you didn’t know that.” Ivy laughs.

“I don’t— I mean, I can’t. What?”

My mind struggles to process her laugh after those words.

Ivy looks away and goes back to strumming. “It was about a month after Tristan went to prison. I was deep into my depression, and I couldn’t stand to be in my body anymore. I didn’t know how to live a normal life without him, but at least I had Tyler around to distract me or comfort me,” she says, resting her hand on the strings to silence them. “Then one day, Rosa asked him to come to the institution and accompany her and some of the kids to the riding stable in the area.”

I let go of the shirt and sit on the bed, crossing my legs, hands on my thighs.

Ivy lays the guitar beside her and mirrors my position.

“I was alone for the first time in weeks after the trial, and I couldn’t stand it. It wasn’t about committing suicide exactly; it was about getting away from who I was. So, an hour before Tyler was supposed to come home, I went to the bathroom and found his razor blade.”

I shut my eyes and shake my head. I don’t want to hear this. I don’t want to picture her like this.

I can’t see her move, but I feel her presence closer to me.

“Open your eyes, Haulten. I’m right here.”

I do as she says and find Ivy smiling.

“I promise it has a good ending,” Ivy assures, placing her hands under her thighs. “Tyler came home earlier than I expected, but I didn’t hear him. So I continued with my plan. The second I put that blade on my wrist, Luca burst through the door and found me like that, sitting on the bathroom floor, bawling and ready to end it all. That was the day I met him.”

She laughs, lost in the memory.

“I had promised myself I’d never trust another man after Tristan. Not a stranger, anyway. But then he spoke, and every promise I’d made to myself flew out the window.”

I shift my position, letting one leg hang off the side of the bed. “What did he say?”

Ivy clears her throat, “He looked me dead in the eyes and said, ‘Could you wait until I leave, please? I’d rather not be here for this.’”