But I don’t.
I keep driving.
The sign shrinks in my rearview mirror until I can’t see it anymore.
I don’t know where I’m going. I just know I can’t stay.
That’s always been my problem.
Ruffy whines softly. I reach over and scratch his head without taking my eyes off the road.
“Yeah, buddy. This is a mess.” I swallow hard. “But at least we’re in ittogether.”
He sighs and puts his head on my lap. Dogs are better than people. They don’t ask questions you can’t answer.
The road stretches out ahead of me, dark and empty. The same road I’ve driven a hundred times before, away from things and people, away from the possibility of getting hurt.
Somewhere behind me, Levi is probably still calling. Still texting. Still trying to figure out what went wrong.
He’ll figure it out eventually. He’ll see the photo and understand.
And then maybe he’ll realize what I already know.
I was never going to stay.
I don’t know how.
The miles tick by. Ruffy eventually settles down, his head resting on his paws, accepting that we’re going wherever we’re going.
I wish I could accept it that easily.
But even as I drive, even as Twin Waves disappears behind me, there’s a voice in my head that sounds nothing like Penelope.
It sounds like Levi.
Don’t run.
I grip the steering wheel tighter.
And I keep going.
Somewhere around midnight, I realize where I’m headed. Not consciously, my hands just know. The same way they knew when I was twenty-seven and heartbroken. The same way they knew when I was seven and my world fell apart.
Asheville.
Dad.
It doesn’t matter that he’s been gone for a year. It doesn’t matter that he can’t answer me anymore. He’s the one I always ran to. The parent who never made me feel guilty for leaving. The one who let me be angry at Mom without ever asking me to forgive her.
I need him now, even if all that’s left is a headstone and a patch of grass.
It’s what I always do.
Run to the parent who can’t fix anything.
TWENTY-TWO
LEVI
