Chapter 37

Before dawn on Sunday, Harriet wakes beside a sleeping Wyn and decides not to wake him, wanting their last shared moment to be unbroken peace rather than a goodbye. She packs quietly and joins Cleo and Sabrina, who insist on driving her to the airport despite her offer to take a cab.

At the airport, the three linger at security. Harriet, uncertain about her return to San Francisco and disillusioned with surgery, receives reassurance from Cleo that there is no wrong answer. They share hugs and a small ritual with their matching burn scars before Harriet proceeds through security, holding herself together through laugh-crying goodbyes.

Alone at the gate far too early, Harriet tries to read but can’t focus. She looks at the website Wyn pulled up the night before—an image of an oak table in a wildflower field before purple mountains—that strikes her with visceral longing. The image clarifies what she truly wants.

Harriet realizes Wyn is still afraid she won’t choose him if given every option, and recognizes her own pattern of letting others’ voices drown out her own. In the sudden quiet of her mind, she answers the core question: she chooses Wyn. She stands, leaves the gate, and walks back, feeling not like she’s retreating but taking her first step toward a new future.