Lily had already packed up the few belongings she owned, so when she got back to the house after her shift, she could leave without ever looking back. Her entire life fit into a single large suitcase, and as depressing as that fact was, it made leaving her father's house much easier.
Everything was set for when she returned home that night for the last time.
She had counted out the cash in her hollowed-out book and hoped that the couple of thousand dollars she had managed to save up would be enough to pay for her living expenses until she graduated. She would have to speak to Maya about picking up a few more shifts so she didn’t run out of cash before then, though.
“Thank you for doing this,” Lily told Matt as he drove her to Coffee on Pine. He’d picked her up in a red Audi, and while
