Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Seven

I stared at the unopened email that had been scheduled to be sent to me by Shirley. Several questions whirled in my head as I sat on the edge of my bed, not sure what to do or even whether to do anything at all.

Had she planned to send that, knowing what she would do to herself? Was she going to apologize in the email? Was I even ready to open it?

“Oh, Shirley.” I shook my head with a defeated sigh. God knew I loved her with everything I had in me, but she went ahead to stab me in the back. And even at that, I still loved and cared about her. Was Katarina’s death really all that drove her to do what she did?

The more questions I had, the clearer it became to me that the answers I needed, along with closure, were trapped in that email message that I had refused to open.

Finally, I clicked on the bold letters that showed the subject of the email, and it came into full view, to the detriment of my heart.

To: LAUREN.

Subject: I’M SORRY…

‘By the ti