PART TWO
There are all kinds of love in this world, but never the same love twice.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
CHAPTER 1
GABRIEL
Avery.
Here, in Sugar Creek. In my arms. Her warm breath heavy on my cheek as she exhaled her shock.
My heart began beating for the first time in nearly three years.
I’ve spent lonely days imagining what it would be like if I was ever lucky enough to see Avery again, but my imagination fell short. The relief, the love, the utter desperation was all on the mark, but I’d left out the gut punch. The reality of what I’d done poured over me when I saw her face.
When you’re in a sterile environment, gray paint and block walls and barely surviving, reality drifts away. Like looking into a well, your vision narrows and you see only the dark.
One day, you’re reintroduced to the light.Here are your things, they say, pressing your old clothes to your chest. You walk out of the gates, feeling like an intruder in the free world. Day by day, the fog burns off and realization dawns. You have made the two greatest mistakes of your life.
And then, on a rainy day that blends into all other days no matter the weather, the love of your life shows up.
Raindrops gather on her skin, catch in her eyelashes. You’ll be soaked to the bone but it won’t matter because…
Avery.
Is.
Here.
CHAPTER 2
AVERY
Camryn drivesmy car to the rented cabin, her phone spouting directions. “We’ll get my car later,” she explains, and I nod absently. The rain stopped a few minutes ago, and now the sun peeks from neutral clouds. She helps me carry in my bags, and Ruby’s things.
“Avery?” Camryn’s eyes are on Ruby as she sniffs every inch of the place. “You need to say something.”
I’ve yet to speak a full sentence. Mostly because I can’t locate enough words to form one.
“You’re scaring me.” Camryn’s using her authoritative voice, so I know she’s not actually scared. “Don’t hold it in. Whatever you’re feeling, you need to let it out.”
How can I explain my feelings? I cannot decide if I’m happy to see Gabriel, or devastated. I think I may be a little of both, along with everything in between. When did he get out of prison? Why didn’t anybody tell me? Shouldn’t I have received a call from…somebody?Doug, Corinne, Gabriel himself?Hi, it’s me. Just wanted to let you know I’m out, in case we run into each other in a small town up north.
“Whatever you’re experiencing over there”—Cam glances my way across the living room, eyeing me momentarily before looking out of the window to the trees that surround this place—“is acceptable. All of it. It’s not good or bad.”
“You sound like my therapist.” I’m trying to get a handle on my emotions, but they’re too damn hard to put my arms around.
“Whom you don’t see anymore,” Cam reminds me, as if to say,you’re cured, remember?Like I’m a solved problem instead of a work-in-progress.
“Who I might have to start seeing again, after that.” I thumb behind me, unsure if I’m pointing in the right direction. “Whatever that was.”
“That was your ex-husband building my wedding arch. Never knew he possessed woodworking talent.” Cam sounds breezy, but her throat undulates with a hard swallow. She loved Gabriel, too. Her fisted hands float in the air on either side of her face, and she unfurls her fingers at once. “Surprise,” she deadpans.
I slide a palm over my face, rubbing away one eyelid of shimmery brown eye shadow. “I hope that’s the last surprise I receive for a year.”
“Five years,” Cam amends.
