West glared at me. “Why?”

Cooper shook his head and tried to step around. “Jesus, West. Just let her go. She’s a grown woman.”

My eyes were full of tears, and West turned on Cooper, laying a heavy hand on his chest, his voice low and full of warning. “What did you do to her?”

Cooper’s voice edged on frantic. “How do you know it was me who hurt her and not the other way around?”

“Are you …” West looked at me, confusion flickering across his face. “No. You two aren’t …” He looked back at Cooper, muttering, “You fucking wouldn’t. You’d never …”

Cooper shook his head, eyes open and honest, brow bent. “I love her, West,” he said as if the words would absolve him, save him.

My heart broke. West’s calm broke. Everything happened fast and slow somehow. The flash of West’s arm as he cocked a fist and released it like a spring. The flash of blood on Cooper’s face. The flash of Lily’s hair as she ran to get between them. And through it all, I couldn’t move, just stood rooted to the spot, watching it all happen.

West strained against Lily, who put all her weight into his chest. “Fuck you, Cooper, you son of a bitch. I can’t fucking believe that you would do this. This one fucking thing I told you never to do. One thing. Get out. Get the fuck out, or I swear to God, I will bury you.”

Lily glanced frantically over her shoulder. “Cooper, go. You shouldn’t have come, not like this.”

But Cooper was watching me, his eyes burning with anguish, chest heaving and nose bloodied. “You have to know how I feel about you. I’ve only ever told you the truth. I’ve been trying to prove myself to you every day — prove to you that you can trust me. That I won’t hurt you. Time is the last thing I want to give you, but I will because that’s what you need, because that’s what you asked me for. If fighting for you means that I have to stay away, then I’ll leave. But don’t question my feelings for you. Don’t ever question that.” His voice faltered.

I wanted to run to him. I wanted to run away from him. But I couldn’t bring my feet to move.

He looked back to West. “I would never do anything to betray you, and you know it, West. You know that.” His eyes found mine again. “Don’t let this be the end, Maggie.”

“Go, Cooper. Now.” West growled, fists clenched at his side.

“I’m sorry,” he said to both of us.

“I don’t want to fucking hear it.”

Cooper’s jaw flexed, and he nodded, looking to me once more for a moment that seemed to stretch on longer than it was. And then he turned and walked out the door.

West spun around, turning his fury on me. “What the fuck, Maggie? Why? Why Cooper? You had all of New York to choose from, and you picked the one guy who we all knew you couldn’t trust. Fucking Cooper.”

I took a breath to speak, but West closed his eyes, waved a hand as he turned away.

“You know what? I don’t even want to know.” He stepped toward the door and muttered, “I’ve got to get out of here.”

Lily touched his arm, but he shook her off.

“You knew about this, didn’t you?”

She opened her mouth, the apology on her face clear. He stopped her before she spoke.

“You did. Goddammit, Lily. Goddammit.” He shook his head at us, hurt. Betrayed. And then he walked out the door, slamming it behind him.

Lily turned to me with tears in her eyes. “Fuck.” She said under her breath. “Why did he come here? What happened?”

I took a shuddering breath and tried to explain. “My bag was stolen, and I had nothing. I couldn’t call West, you know? So I went to Cooper’s, and … I … I said some horrible things to him and then he told me to leave, so I did,” I rambled, the tears falling again.

Lily sat down at the table and dropped her head into her hands. “We fucked up.”

I just stared at the door, regretting everything. “No, I did.”

BORN TO RUN

Maggie

I LOOKED OUT THE WINDOW of the plane the next morning, across the tops of the clouds, down at the ground that stretched out in patches cut by roads and rivers. It was hard to grasp just how far away things were, grasp the scale of it all from so high. Everything was distorted by distance, making it feel more familiar than it was. What looked like a tree was really a copse. What looked like a house was a neighborhood.

Distance changed everything. Or at least that was what I was hoping.

I’d waited until Lily was gone, feigning sleep even as I felt her willing me to get up. And once she was gone, I packed my suitcase, wrote a letter to my friends, and took a cab to the shelter. In the wake of the explosion the night before, I texted my phone from Lily’s and received a message back within minutes. One of the kids had taken my bag, hidden it in his parents’ room in the shelter. Everything was intact and in place, and I hung it on my shoulder, feeling like some balance had been restored.

And so I told them I was leaving. Susan assured me that my job would be waiting for me, so long as I could work remotely on lesson plans that another volunteer would implement.

I thought about the letter I’d left on the table, the apology that wouldn’t ever be enough. But it was the best I could do. I couldn’t risk ruining anything else. I’d hurt everyone, exploded everything. Cooper. West. Lily. And there was only thing left to do.

Leave.

So I bought a ticket that cost three times what it should have. I boarded the plane and left the city behind. Left my friends behind. I left Cooper behind.

The clouds in the distance stretched up, casting massive shadows on the ground below. I had tried to read my book, but nothing could hold my attention. I tried to write in an attempt to purge the emotion, but nothing came. So I stared out the window with my earbuds buried in my ears as I watched the world pass by.

The only person I’d spoken to was my father, who had agreed to pick me up at the airport and not to tell West. I didn’t want him to find out until Lily did — after I was long gone.

The plane descended, and I watched the roads and trees below, marveling as they came into focus that they were so much farther away than I’d realized. And we landed and pulled up to the terminal, waiting patiently as the travelers filed out in a stream occasionally broken by someone digging in an overhead compartment. The humidity hit me before I reached the door, nearly swallowed me up as I walked through the ramp and into the terminal.

My father was waiting for me in baggage — I saw him the second I stepped into the room, standing against the wall with his hands in the pockets of his slacks. He was long and lean, like a blond West with a beard to match, though Daddy’s was more grey than it was blond. He saw me and pushed off the wall, eyes sad behind his thick-framed glasses.

Just the sight of him summoned the tears. I rubbed my nose, hoping I could keep them at bay.

“Hey, baby,” he said as he approached, opening his arms to hug me, and any hope I had was lost.

The tears fell hot and steady as I stood the baggage claim, tucked into my father’s chest as he rocked me gently.

“Shh. It’s okay. It’s gonna be okay.”

I wanted to believe him more than anything. The worst of it had passed after a minute or two, and I pulled away, sniffling, brushing away tears. “I’m s-sorry.”

He held me at arm’s length, his face soft. “It’s all right. Don’t be sorry.”

“Have you heard from West?”