Mom’s still looking at me with soft, caring eyes. “You don’t even want to read his note?”
I shake my head, glancing mutely at the elegant black envelope. “Let’s go have some dessert, okay?”
~ ~ ~
Nearly two hours pass before I step back into the living room again.
The house is quiet. Katie is dozing on the sofa with Mom, Sadie resting contentedly on the floor beneath them. The dog looks up as I pad through, but she doesn’t stir from her new favorite spot.
I’m tempted to sit and enjoy the tranquility with them, but I can’t stop my feet from carrying me to Jared’s note and the painting I’ve been trying to ignore since it arrived.
I still don’t feel ready to revisit my humiliation with him. I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready, but I also realize that if I mean to move on, I’m not going to start by running away from the pain or sheltering myself from hard truths.
Silently, I pick up the envelope and the painting and bring them both upstairs to my bedroom.
Once I’m closed inside, I take a fortifying breath and break the golden seal on Jared’s handwritten note.
As soon as I start to read his words, a knot of emotion tightens in my throat.
Melanie,
I am so sorry for the hurt I’ve caused you.
For too many years, I have been consumed by anger and pain. It showed in my work, and in the selfish ways I lived my life. I thought revenge was the answer, the thing I needed in order to finally move on. I was wrong.
I had no right to pull you into my world, into my troubles. Least of all, into my cowardly, pointless game of retribution. You are good and kind and courageous, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, both inside and out. The light you’ve brought to my life has changed me. You’ve made me better. You showed me all the things I was missing because I hadn’t let go of my past.
And now, I’ve lost you because of it, too.
Maybe this is the best thing for you. I’ve stayed away because that’s what you’ve asked of me. But please know my love for you was, and always will be, real.
Yours, Jared
Tears blur my vision as I glance down at the wrapped painting on the bed. I cut away the twine, then begin to remove the paper.
I realize at once that this isn’t the portrait I was expecting.
I am the subject of the painting, but I’ve never seen this one before. I never posed for it, yet he’s captured me in arresting detail.
I gasp in astonishment as, bit by bit, a portrait of me standing on the deck at his beach house emerges. Jared’s painted me as if I’m gazing directly at him, the wind catching my loose hair, green waves rolling in the distance behind me like the Kentucky pastures he clearly loves and misses.
He’s remembered every detail of my face. The precise shade of my eyes. The soft expression on my face instantly calls back all the feelings I had for him on that perfect day we spent together. The love I felt for him then . . . and still do.
Vaguely, I hear the soft knock on my door. I don’t realize I’m sobbing until my mom pokes her head in to make sure I’m all right.
“Oh, honey,” she says, stepping inside to wrap me in her comforting embrace.
I sag against her shoulder and weep. I can’t help myself. I can’t harness the tumult of emotion and confusion that engulfs me.
She lets me cry only for a moment before drawing me away from her. Sweeping my tears away with her thumbs, she cradles my face in her hands. “My sweet girl. Look at how he sees you. The man who painted this portrait knows my daughter better than anyone ever will. And he loves you, Melanie. He loves you very much.”
I glance back at Jared’s painting, unable to deny what my mother is saying. I can hear his deep voice echoing in my head as the words from his note play back to me now. The hurt I’ve been carrying around for the past few weeks starts to crumble away, replaced with a burgeoning hope.
“I love him, too. I love him more than anything, Mom.”
Her mouth curves. “Sweetheart, why are you telling me? Jared’s the one who needs to hear it.”
“You’re right.” I swallow, wiping my cheeks as I get up off the bed. “I have to see him. I have to go to him right now. Oh, God. I have to hurry!”
