The Year I Stopped Being His novel Chapter 428

Sloane Taylor's eyes snapped open.

The crack on the ceiling was still there, and the light from the streetlamp leaked through the gap in the curtains, casting a thin line across the room.

The gentle patter of rain outside contrasted with the warm, quiet air inside. She lay on the old wooden bed, wrapped tightly in her blanket, her heart pounding like a drum, and a thin layer of cold sweat coating her back.

Wife?!

Was she... married?!

Sloane pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked down at her hand. Her fingers were still curled in the same grasping position she had held in her dream.

She opened her fingers and closed them again. The sensation on her fingertips still held the warmth of that embrace from her dream—so real, so tangible, as if someone had truly held her in the freezing snow.

The man's voice still echoed in her ears. "Wife, it's not cold anymore. You're not cold." She couldn't say whose voice it was, only that it felt achingly familiar. So familiar that it made her heart flutter with panic.

It was... Garrison Foster.

Sloane threw off the covers, walking barefoot to the window, and pulled back a corner of the curtain.

The residential complex was pitch black at three in the morning. Only the streetlamp below remained lit, casting a dim, yellow halo over the fine drizzle. The street beneath it was completely empty—no cars, no people, nothing at all.

She stood by the window, staring at that empty streetlamp for a long time, before finally closing the curtain and returning to bed.

She didn't dream again for the rest of the night.

*

By late October, the ginkgo leaves at Riverdale University had turned completely yellow. A gust of wind sent them rustling to the ground, paving the entire sycamore avenue with shattered gold.

Josh Jace stood beside the sycamore tree outside the School of Business. He glanced down at his watch, then up at the students trickling out of the building, his fingers unconsciously adjusting his tie.

He dressed very formally today.

"Josh?" Sloane walked down the steps toward him. She looked him up and down, a fond, amused sparkle in her eyes.

"Dressed so handsomely. Who are you going on a date with?"

Josh looked up, his eyes lighting up the moment he saw her. He quickly suppressed the gleam, his lips curving into a gentle, earnest smile.

"With you, Sloane."

Sloane froze, her expression filled with confusion. "Us?"

"Did you forget? Today is October twentieth."

Josh took his hands out of his pockets, looking down at her, his voice dropping soft and low. "It's your birthday."

Sloane parted her lips, instinctively pulling out her phone to check the date.