With all my love,
Winnie
I flip the page. Behind it are divorce papers. It’s fairly formulaic, and must have been drawn up by her parents’ lawyers. Winnie’s name is signed in dark ink on the last page. There’s a spot for mine right next to it.
I set Winnie’s note to one side, and then rip the divorce papers in two, letting them fall to the ground. I don’t spare them another glance as I get up from the table and start to pace. I don’t know what my next move is, exactly, but I’m not getting divorced from the woman I love. Not when it’s clear she still loves me back.
And I’m not even angry at her for leaving. I could never be angry at her for doing what she thinks is the right thing—fordoing something I’d probably do myself if I was in her shoes. She’s trying to protect me and it’s an impulse I know well. I’d do anything to keep her safe.
But what she doesn’t understand is that the thing I want more than anything else—more than a successful career in music, more than peace—is her. I’d be happy never playing the guitar again, never singing again, if it meant I had forever with her.
I feel anger surge in me regardless though, and it’s entirely for her parents. They’re conniving, abusive, controlling,evilpeople and I’m done with them fucking up Winnie’s life. In a way, it makes sense that she agreed to go back with them. They’re master manipulators and she’s their child. She might think they’re all powerful, but I know better. I know we can beat them.
I start pacing again, my feet wearing a track into the carpet.
Think, Jonah, think,I urge myself.
There must be some way that we can have it all. That we can have each other. But my thoughts quickly become scattered as the stress of this situation dawns on me. Winnie is heading back to Alabama today. She might already be there. She might be in that house, with those awful people, having her every move watched yet again. Her every calorie counted. Her voice dampened.
“Fuck,” I shout, allowing myself one moment of rage.
I scrub a hand over my face, and then I grab my phone from my back pocket. I won’t be able to do this on my own, and there are plenty of people here who care about Winnie. Together, we’ll be able to figure something out.
“Candice?” I say when she answers.
“Yes?” Her voice is sharp, like she can already tell something is wrong.
“I need you. All of you. Winnie is gone.”
By the timethe horse rescue crew arrives at my house, I’m oscillating between fear and rage every few minutes. Candice’s face is a welcome sight in my doorway, and she just reaches out and hugs me, no questions asked.
Everyone piles into the living room and kitchen, with Beau and Nathan on stools near the island, Jenny, Candice, and Lila on the couch, and Tomás in the armchair. I don’t sit. I can’t sit. If I sit down, I’ll feel like I’m not doing anything to fix this.
“Tell us what happened,” Candice says.
I wordlessly hold the note out to her. She scans the page, her face dropping into a frown.
“Fuck them,” she grits out, throwing an apologetic look at Lila.
“That’s what I said.”
She passes Winnie’s note around and everyone reads it in turn, grave looks on their faces. Jenny actually has to blink back tears, and Candice rubs her back. Lila looks up at her mom with concern, and I see Jenny struggle to smile down at her.
“I just…I just can’t believe she’s back with them,” Jenny manages to say.
“It’s awful.” I’ve never heard charming, boisterous Nathan sound so dejected.
“You’ll get her back.” Beau’s voice is firm, and I lock eyes with him. He gives me a small nod, as if to tell me that he believes I can do this. I nod back.
“Yes, but how?” Tomás looks up from the note, finished with it. “Winnie told me enough while we worked together for me to know that her parents are crazy. Do we even know where she lives?”
“Yes. I wrote her hundreds of letters over the years, and her family hasn’t moved. They’re still in the same house,” Candice says.
Right. Candice and Winnie used to be pen pals. Of course she knows her address.
“Okay, that’s step one,” Beau says calmly.
“But what’s step two? What’s to stop them from doing exactly what Winnie says they will in their note? They could ruin you.” Nathan knows the importance of reputation better than anyone else here.
