arm milk in her hand. "I thought this might help you sleep." She placed

bed, still wrapped in Julian's coat.

or a safe topic. "I spoke to Liam earlier," she offered, mentioning Clara's y

s house she felt a real connection to, the ten

s gossip, a clumsy attempt at distraction. "You'll never gues

e Clara's in

Carlisle children, don't you? Their mother passed away when they were young, and

he details of a stranger's s

ious one. Seraphina once dragged him to the admissions office at Columbia Univ

ia Uni

d sharp, sliced through her. A rainy night near the Columbia campus. The blinding glare of h

ara's face. Her breath ca

Oh, Clara," she stammered, her face paling with horror. "I'm so s

, useless thing that onl

icy grip. The car, the rain, the sound... it was all there, just beneath

id, her voice a th

. She had done it again. She had tried to get close, and in her

d and distant, all emotion locked aw

it. She nodded silently and backed out of t

l on the bed, pulling her knees to her chest. The PTSD

are. He had been there, in the background of her life, near the place w