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I took the letter from her hands and sat down next to her on the bed, still in justto believeelse tonight or the next ti else? What in the fuck is going on, Ash? Why have I been accepted into soe that I didn’t apply to?" The confusion was quickly turning into anger and I knew that I needed to start explaining fast

"Let me put some clothes on so that we can talk," I said as I slid off the bed and walked over to my dresser I swiftly threw on some boxers and pajama pants and then rejoined her on the bed She just sat there staring ateither stea fro brown eyes at any minute

"Okay, so here’s the deal As you know I’ree this May, so I’ve been applying to several different universities to enter their doctorate programs I knew that if I was accepted into any of these, I’d have to move and I wanted you to co to you first, I took it upon myself to apply for a transfer for you to each of these schools as well I thought that once I found the right place where we could both go, I’d present it to you and you’d want to go together I didn’t want to tell you and stress you out until I knew that ere both in"

"So leto to or where I live?"

"Well there are only a handful of schools that offer a PhD program in nuclear astrophysics, so I applied to all of them for both of us I mean, of course you have the option to not coht that this…," I explained as I ht ere for forever, so I assuo"

"Do you hear yourself right now? Do you hear the words co out of your mouth? You’re no better than my parents who tried to controlit with me!"

"That wasn’t my intention, Scarlett…"

"No! It’s my turn to talk," she interrupted me "You of all people… the person that has been so ada to make decisions on my own, to live my life for me, to not let others control me… you’re such a hypocrite! That’s exactly what you’ve done, or are trying to do I can’t believe this" She ju around my room

"I’ht if when I told you about it, I had all the facts together, you wouldn’t have to worry about anything I promise you, butterfly, I didn’taway your decision If you would’ve said no to all of the else" My voice was now shaking, but with fear instead of anger as hers was

"We would’ve figured so else out? Like you wouldn’t have continued your education? Bull shit! And don’t even with the ‘butterfly’ crap right now, that’s a fucking joke You don’t want s and learn how to fly, you want me in a little cocoon where you can control me just like everyone else!"

"Scarlett, please calm down I know you’reto tell you that I’, even without knowing that the letter came I talked to Crys today and shea selfish asshole, especially with the way I handled this I’m sorry! I want to knohat you want Please, let’s talk about this," I pleaded with her

"What I want right now is some time by myself I need to cool off and time to think I’ll call you later" She picked up her purse and keys off of my bed and stomped out of the room I desperately wanted to call after her, to chase after her and beg her not to leave, but I didn’t I let her walk out the door, hoping and praying that it wasn’t for good… hoping and praying she wouldn’t run to his arer didn’t even begin to cover the ee… fury disappoint as I escaped Ash’s house and got intothat I had just found out, I couldn’t even cry It was al so much, that I just went numb, like a defense mechanism so that I didn’t have a complete mental breakdown

I needed someone to talk to badly I couldn’t talk to Mase about this; he didn’t need any of my issues to stress about especially on his first day hoo home and talk to Max, but I felt like all I did was cry about my life to him Plus, if I found out that he knew about what Ash had done, I was going to be livid with hi Mina, but she didn’t answer; she was probably out with Noah somewhere, as she usually was I really needed my Evie in thatneeded her right then

I drove straight to the ceo, the only place that I felt I could find sorabbedinto the horizon and the frigid February night was setting in rapidly It had only been a couple of months since I had been there at the one year anniversary of her death, but so ed my way over to her headstone and knelt down in front of it The ground was frozen and the wetness of the soil quickly soaked through the knees of my jeans, but I barely noticed

EVELYN ROSE STEWART

April 27, 1993 ~ Deceht