Prologue
The ring caught the last of the evening light, silver bright against Zach’s trembling hand.
“Marry me,” he whispered, eyes fixed on mine, full of hope and fear and everything we’d built together.
My throat tightened. For a heartbeat, the world stilled. The future I’d tried to picture — one with certainty, one without shadows — was right there, waiting for me to say yes.
And then my phone buzzed.
I almost ignored it. I should have. But Ben’s name flashed across the screen, and a sick weight coiled low in my stomach. He never called this late.
“Sorry,” I whispered to Zach, pulling the phone free. He smiled, nervous but sure, like he already knew my answer.
I didn’t.
“Ben?” My voice came out too loud, too sharp. “What’s wrong?”
On the other end, his breath was ragged. “Isla—” He broke off, a sound I’d never heard from him before. “It’s your mum. She—she collapsed. The doctors… she’s gone.”
The world tilted.
“What?” My voice cracked. “No, no, that’s—she was fine this morning—”
“She had an aneurysm,” Ben said, voice hollow. “There was nothing they could do. I’m so sorry. Isla, she’s—” His words crumbled into silence.
The phone slid from my hand. My knees gave out, but Zach caught me, confusion flashing into panic.
“What is it? Isla, what’s wrong?”
I couldn’t speak. The only word left in me was Mum.
Zach’s ring still glinted between us, but I couldn’t see it anymore.
The answer he wanted — the answer I thought I was ready to give — dissolved before it left my mouth.
Because everything else had already dissolved too.
