Eventually, Blake began pulling away.

By midsummer, their relationship was over.

By late summer, Alyssa was living with my parents again.

She never apologized to me.

She never apologized to Lily.

Eventually, she simply removed me from social media.

And for the first time, I was genuinely okay with the distance.

Because I learned something through all of it.

Real closure isn’t about destroying another person.

It’s about reaching a point where they no longer control your peace.

Lily and I spent the rest of the year building our own life.

On her birthday, she asked if we could return to the cabin in the mountains.

“Even if it’s only us?” she asked.

I smiled.

“Especially if it’s only us.”

That weekend, we watched the stars, roasted marshmallows, and laughed until late into the night.

And somewhere beneath the trees, I realized something strange.

I wasn’t angry with Alyssa anymore.

I wasn’t even disappointed.

I simply didn’t need anything from her.

No apology.

No approval.

No explanation.

And after years of trying to earn peace from people who constantly disturbed it, I finally understood that peace was something Lily and I could build for ourselves.