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head of the table and Maxx leaning against the door frame, his hands in his pockets.
    “Hadley, what’s this all about?” Maxx asked, almost sounding genuinely concerned.
    A tear fell from her eye as she heard the delicacy in his voice when he said her name. For a second, she closed her eyes and imagined that he really felt something for her and was begging her to stay, because he loved her.
    “I have to leave,” she confessed to the one solution she could see to her problem. The one thing that could stop Micah constantly having to suffer because of her. She turned away from them, staring out the window. She couldn’t bear to see their reactions.
    “What do you mean you have to leave?” Maxx asked angrily, making his way toward her. “Leave for where? You’ve got nowhere else to go,” he continued, grabbing her by the shoulders.
    For a minute, she actually thought he truly wanted her to stay, but didn’t know how to say it to her face. But when she saw the anger in his eyes, replacing the love and wanting she realised should be there, she knew it wasn’t true.
    Pushing him away from her, she sat on the window seat and turned away. She couldn’t bear to look at him. After all the time she’d spent loving him, all he could do was yell at her and try to tell her what to do.
    “I’ll stay for the party tomorrow night, but then I have to leave,” Hadley explained, for Emerson’s sake. “I’m not sure where I’m going or what I’m going to do, but I have to get out of this house and do something with my life.” She directed her comments at Maxx, who was running his hand through his hair and swearing under his breath.
    “I’m sure Conway’s mum will take me in for a few days and, after that, I’ll get a place of my own.” Hadley didn’t know if that was a good plan or not, but it was the only one she had.
    She crossed to the door, too afraid of their reaction to let them speak or try to make her stay. But she stopped, with her hand on the handle, when she realised there was something important she had to ask. “All I ask is that you let me tell Micah. He deserves to hear it from me,” she said, and then she left.
    She shut the door behind her and fell to the floor, unable to contain her tears any longer. She couldn’t believe she’d actually done it. She’d said she was leaving and she was going to see it through. After all these years.
    And it hurt more than she’d ever imagined.
    After what felt like forever, the door opened behind her and Maxx’s familiar voice sighed and muttered something she couldn’t make out over the sound of her tears.
    Hadley sat on the floor, head on her knees, sobbing. She didn’t bother looking up at him, knowing that it would only remind her of the growing pain in her heart. She heard him take a step forward and hesitate.
    With a sigh, Maxx lifted her into his arms and made his way upstairs, causing her heart to stop for just a second.
    What was he doing?
    Hadley was so caught up in her pain that she couldn’t comprehend the compassion behind his touch as he carried her into her room and lay her on her bed. She looked up at him, her sobs quiet and contained, as he leaned over her, brushing aside a strand of hair from her face.
    Maxx lay a blanket over her, apparently unsure if her uncontrollable shaking was from the cold or from her tears. “Sleep it off, then we’ll talk,” he suggested in a quiet voice, before leaving the room.

    As instructed, Hadley slept, comforted by the thought that she’d finally had the courage to do what was needed. She didn’t allow herself to think about Micah and how upset he’d be. She knew it would only cause doubts to arise and confuse her even more than she already was.
    Getting up from the bed, she changed clothes and moved over to the mirror to see the state of her hair. Running her fingers through it, making sure it was in place, she tied it into a loose ponytail, down the side of her neck. With a yawn, she left her room