He Told Me to Stay Away, So I Left and He Followed novel · Chapter 30 of 32

Chapter 30: The Dock

Hazel's POV

The dock behind the gallery was wet and empty, and the ferry's lights were coming across the water.

Whitney stood at the rail with her bag over her shoulder and her blazer buttoned wrong.

I had followed her out and said only one sentence: *Miles should hear it too.*

She had nodded once. Then she had waited.

Now Miles came through the gallery's side door, and I heard him slow down when he saw her.

He stopped six feet away.

"Hi," Whitney said.

"Hi."

"I'm not going to take long. The ferry's in four minutes."

"Okay."

She opened her bag and took out a small silver drive.

"This is the only copy," she said. "The original voice memo, the one with the dishwasher. Every other copy is gone. I checked my phone, my laptop and the cloud twice."

She held it out.

Miles didn't take it.

"Give it to her," he said.

Whitney turned and held it out to me.

I took it. It was lighter than I expected.

"You can keep it or break it," she said. "I don't mind."

"I'll keep it," I said. "It's evidence, and it's also a recording of a man being honest at twenty, which doesn't deserve to be thrown away."

Her mouth twisted.

"That's very generous."

"It isn't. It's a fact."

She nodded and looked back at Miles.

"That's not the thing I wanted to say to you," she said.

"Go ahead."

"I loved you for three weeks, and I loved you for two years after that without any of the good parts." She laughed, a dry small sound. "You were right to end it. You said it badly, and you were right."

Miles let out a slow breath.

"I did say it badly," he said. "I'm sorry for the way. I was twenty, and I wanted to get out of that kitchen. I never thought about the dishwasher or whether anyone was listening."

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