Chapter 1

I spread the last of the artisanal cheese across my bedroom floor, arranging it in a perfect semicircle around the bottle of rosé I'd been saving for months. The pale pink liquid caught the morning light streaming through my window, casting rosy shadows across my meticulously color-coded Hamptons itinerary. Today was the day—graduation morning, the official beginning of our summer together before Yale in the fall.

My phone buzzed with a text from my mother downstairs: "Honey, did you pack sunscreen?"

I smiled, typing back quickly: "SPF 50 for me, 30 for Nathan. He thinks anything higher makes him look 'pasty.'"

I picked up the itinerary one more time, running my finger down the carefully planned schedule. Sunset beach picnic tonight. Horseback riding tomorrow morning. Wine tasting at the new vineyard Nathan had been talking about for months. Everything was perfect—just like us.

With a flutter of excitement, I grabbed my phone and pulled up Nathan's contact. His smiling face filled my screen as I typed: "T-minus 3 hours until Hamptons bliss! Can't wait to see you. Everything's packed and ready! ❤️"

The message showed as delivered, but no immediate response came. I tried not to overthink it. Nathan was probably just finishing his own packing or saying goodbye to his parents. I turned my attention back to the snacks, adding truffle potato chips to the arrangement—Nathan's favorite.

By noon, my suitcase stood ready by the door, and I'd checked my packing list three times. Still no word from Nathan. The tiny knot of worry in my stomach tightened as I dialed his number.

He answered on the fourth ring.

"Emma." His voice sounded strained, distant.

"Hey! Are you on your way? I've got everything ready and—"

"I can't make it today."

Four words. Four simple words that made the room suddenly tilt.

"What do you mean?" I sat down on my bed, the springs creaking beneath me. "We've been planning this for months."

"I know, but something came up." He cleared his throat. "Isabella needs to go to Manhattan today. There's some urgent paperwork for her scholarship that has to be filed in person."

Isabella. Of course it was Isabella. The girl his family had been sponsoring for the past year. The girl who always seemed to need Nathan's help at the most inconvenient times.

"Can't someone else take her? Your dad? Or she could take the train?" My voice rose with each suggestion, desperation seeping through.

"Emma, she doesn't know her way around the city. And Dad's at that golf tournament upstate, remember? It has to be me."

My eyes fell on the rosé, the cheese, the chips. All the little things I'd carefully selected because I knew they'd make him smile.

"But it's our trip, Nathan. Our graduation trip. We've been talking about this forever."

"I know, and I'm sorry. We'll reschedule, I promise. I'll make it up to you."

The call ended with hollow reassurances, his voice already distant, already gone. I sat motionless on my bed, staring at the snacks that now seemed to mock me with their festivity.

Three hours later, I was still in my room, mindlessly scrolling through Instagram when I saw it. A story posted just twenty minutes ago. The pristine white sand of a private Hamptons beach. Two pairs of feet at the edge of turquoise water. The caption: "#HamptonsGetaway with @NathanSterling."

Posted by Isabella Rodriguez.

My hands trembled as I pressed the FaceTime button on Nathan's contact. The connection crackled as his face appeared, wind whipping his hair, sunglasses perched on his nose. Behind him, unmistakably, was the beach house we had reserved.

"You took her to our getaway?" My voice was barely a whisper.

"Emma, it's not what you think. She was so upset about the scholarship situation, I thought some fresh air would help clear her head."

"Our fresh air. Our weekend. Our plans." Each word felt like glass in my throat.

"You're being overdramatic." His tone shifted, hardened. "This is exactly why I didn't tell you. I knew you'd react like this."

Tears blurred my vision, hot and sudden. "Maybe we should break up."

The words hung between us, crackling through the poor connection. I expected shock, protest, anything but what came next.

"Maybe we should," he agreed coldly.

The screen went black. And just like that, a decade of love ended with the press of a button.