Relief hit Samantha so hard she nearly sagged onto the ground. It wasn’t Juniper. It wasn’t him. But the adrenaline that had kept her upright suddenly drained from her limbs, leaving her trembling and hollow. She stumbled to a nearby rock and collapsed onto it, burying her face in her hands.
Tears poured freely now, unstoppable, raw. She sat there, soaked in mist, her body shivering not from cold but from exhaustion and grief. Images tore through her mind—New York, her shattered marriage, the life she thought she’d rebuilt—and now Juniper, her last anchor, slipping through her fingers too.