“Did you keep yours?” Tom asked quietly, and Ari opened her eyes again. He looked so hopeful, with his eyes so soft and loving that she could hardly stand it. “Your queen? Did you keep it?”
For a moment, Ari struggled to breathe. It would be so easy to tell him the truth. So easy to say that she’d held onto that damned queen of spades card for years, both a token of hope and talisman against heartbreak, tucked quietly in her pocket. So easy to tell him how much she’d missed him. So easy to give in.
“No,” she said, and the word was harsh-sounding, ugly, even to her. “I tore her up.”
Tom’s face fell, his eyes clouding over. He opened his mouth to reply before clearly thinking the better of it. He gave Ari a long look, before sinking against the tree next to her, his hand still warm against hers.
“Okay,” he said. “Okay.”
“What we had,” Ari carried on, feeling her heart break a little within her, “I mean, what we once had... it was beautiful, you know? And I don’t regret it. I really don’t. You gave me Reine, and the most beautiful memories of my life. But I can’t... we can’t go back to those days. There’s too much between us. Too many lies. Too much betrayal.”
Ari watched as Tom grew pale. His head slumped back against the tree in defeat, and he exhaled long and hard.
“I didn’t want to go back to those days,” he said, his voice broken. “I wanted to move forward. To new days. You, me and Reine.”
“No,” Ari said. “I can’t. But you... you can move forward with Reine in your life. As much time as you want with her.”
Tom nodded. “Thank you. I know I’ve done nothing to deserve your trust where Reine is concerned... but thank you.”
For a few moments they sat in silence, their fingers now entwined. Above them, a slight wind whistled through the trees, and somewhere in the distance a bird called. Ari closed her eyes, trying in vain to block them all out. She just wanted quiet now. Somewhere calm where she could lick her wounds and heal.
“You should paint again,” Tom suddenly said, and Ari startled.
“What?”
“You should paint again,” he said again, and when Ari looked at him, his face was serious. “You don’t know how good you are.”
“Sasha told me you’d bought one of my paintings for a small fortune,” Ari replied with a bitter smile. “Wish I’d seen some of that money.”
Tom squeezed her hand. “Your work is a habit I can’t quite give up. I’ve tried.”
Ari stared at him. “You mean you bought more than one?”
Tom swallowed, giving Ari a small shrug.
“I bought them all.”
Ari’s mouth dropped open. “All? You mean you... How many of my paintings do you own, Tom?”
He looked away from her to the trees. “All of them.”
“All of them?”
“Thirty-seven, at my last count.”
“Tom...” Ari began, before trailing off. There was nothing she could say, no words she could muster.
“I really do love you, Ari,” Tom said softly. “I really do.”
Ari felt her heart splinter once more.
“I know,” she whispered back. “I know. But Tom... there’s nowhere for us to go from here.”
“That’s not true,” Tom replied, and he sounded small and sad. “There’s still our ending.”
He reached over, tracing a finger down Ari’s face. Ari couldn’t help herself, pressing her cheek into the large palm of his hand.
And when he moved forward to kiss her, she met his lips willingly.
