---- Chapter 11 I hadn't expected it to be Tyler who called me. "You ran off again?" His voice crackled through the receiver, edged with accusation. "Sorry, Dr. Ford," I said. "I'm just not the kind of patient who follows orders." The wind was howling around me, and the roar of waves crashing onto the shore must've reached him too, because he paused. I could almost hear him stiffen. "Where are you? Are you at the beach? Mindy, don't do anything stupid. That bastard Charles isn't worth it. Listen to me-if you're even thinking about ending it all, I swear I'll destroy him. I'll make you regret it for the rest of your life, qo" He'd clearly misunderstood. There was a new panic in his voice now-hurried ---- footsteps, the clatter of things knocked over, some object shattering somewhere near him. I quickly spoke up to calm him down. "Relax. I'm not going to do anything reckless. Dr. Ford, I think I may have given you the wrong impression last time. Maybe I wasn't clear. Whatever I'm going through, it's not because of Charles. I've never loved him." Just like that, everything on the other end of the line went silent. Like a record skipping to a stop. Nothing. Not even a breath. "Dr. Ford?" I said gently, testing the silence. It took a long while before his voice returned, almost hesitant. "You never loved him... what do you mean?" A massive wave slammed against the rocks, swallowing the sound of his voice entirely. ---- I didn't answer his question. Instead, I asked one of my own. "Tyler, have we met before? I mean- before all this?" At that, his breath caught-just for a moment, but enough to know something had shifted. Then, a sigh. Long and weary. "Mindy... when you come back, let's meet. I'll tell you then." I didn't reply, just hung up. And then, staring out at the churning sea, I tossed the phone into the waves. We wouldn't see each other again. My flight was booked for the day I turned twenty- five. The day before, I returned to Kingsford one last time. ---- There was one final thing left to do before leaving: Thad to retrieve the old agreement from Madam Mankin, Charles's mom. But the moment I stepped into the house, I found Charles sitting in the living room, right there on the couch, watching me with unblinking eyes. His pupils were bloodshot, like he hadn't slept at all the night before. Probably hadn't. There was something murky, something searching in his gaze-nothing like the way he used to look at me. It was unfamiliar and unsettling in a way I couldn't quite name.