Chapter 53

That’s how it was going to be. I didn’t need anything fancy. I had Lily. I had my paints. Even if I wasn’t exactly selling paintings or booked for gallery shows, it was something. My own thing. A quiet dream I could hold onto. Life wasn’t perfect. Far from it. But for once, it felt… manageable. Peaceful. And peaceful was good. Last night, I slept deeply. No tears, no tossing around. Just Lily breathing softly beside me and the weight of the past slowly sliding off my shoulders. Until morning came. I was just pulling the covers over my head when I heard a knock at the door. “Haley.” Logan’s voice floated in, smooth but firm. “Get up. We’re going to see Ricardo.” I groaned loudly into my pillow. “Nooooo,” I said like a dying whale. I peeked out to see him standing in the doorway in a crisp white shirt tucked into dark slacks. His sleeves were rolled to his elbows, exposing his forearms, and his hair was still damp from the shower, tousled and somehow unfairly perfect. He looked like a ma