He'd gone beyond his player ways for her.
She'd grown beyond her traumatic past for him.
Together, their love was beyond.
Until one fatal accident.
__________
When she loses the love of her life in a car crash, Althea has nothing left in California...
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*ALTHEA'S POV*
October 11, 2023.
'I just landed. Will call you later. xo.'
I texted Jordon as soon as I stepped out of the airport, also sending a photo of my plane ticket to Linda to show I was an obedient employee listening to her advice, and my thumb hovered over the next contact name for a second before I decided against it.
It was barely midday, and Kylie was probably busy. I could wait for the weekend to let her know I was in town for a few weeks, or maybe even stop at the bakery for a surprise visit.
But first, I had to get to Lotus Bay and rent a car to go there.
One step at a time.
It was already enough when at each step, the realization of where I was hit me—the realization, and the sight of the LAX sign, the Californian sun, the hint of sea salt making the polluted air more suffocating than in New York as I lowered the windows of my temporary car, the few locks flying out of my ponytail and into my face with the wind, and the urge to turn back when I glimpsed a bouquet of wilting flowers along the too-long highway.
I wasn't even sure how I managed to reach the Lotus Bay sign when more and more weight pushed my foot on the brake pedal. But thankfully, I'd chosen a hotel on the outskirts of town, with a direct way to the hospital, on which I didn't dawdle.
In fact, as soon as I was changed into a less stifling outfit than my jeans and long-sleeved shirt, I rushed to get to the clinic, telling myself that it was a place I'd never been to before, so no sense of familiarity could suffocate me.
Yet I still choked on my first inhale of the cool entrance air, something all too familiar filling my lungs: the smell of disinfectant and siren echoes from the general hospital on the other side of the road.
Physiotherapy clinic, emergency service... they all held the same uncertain and oppressive atmosphere, anywhere in the world.
A lot like every cemetery was gloomy and heavy, and I knew both settings too well.
The grim lighting, the chairs as stiff as stones... gray granite and darkening marble, wilting bouquets of flowers and plastic versions... polymer handrails along dizzying white walls and endless hallways... aligned aisles... all going into dead ends.
