He drags a hand down his face. “But every time I tried… I stopped myself.”
His jaw stiffens. “Watching you not know was tearing me apart.”
He exhales slowly.
“The night we left the restaurant. After the fight, after I left the house.” He swallows. “I went straight to the store and got a bottle. I had Vodka in the car.”
A quiet ache settles inside me.
“I kept drinking,” he admits quietly. “Not because I wanted to… but because I didn’t know what else to do with the anger.”
He laughs bitterly. “With myself.”
His eyes drop to the ground.
“I didn’t know how to help you. I didn’t know how to reach you.”
“So I drove.” His voice lowers. “Just drove.”
The wind moves through the yard.
“There was a car in front of me,” he says. “It was swerving. I..I thought the driver was drunk.” His fingers curl against the arms of the chair. “And I was so damn angry… I didn’t even think. I leaned on the horn and flashed my high beams.”
His voice cracks. “And then the car jerked.” He inhales sharply. “It swerved again and then it turned around.” His eyes close briefly. “That’s when I saw her.”
“Sophie.”
My stomach drops.
Dominic’s breathing becomes uneven.
“Her car went off the road before I could even process what was happening…It slid straight into the ditch.” The words scrape out of him. “I slammed on the brakes and I ran towards the car.”
His voice shakes harder.
“I saw her inside.” His hands tremble violently. “I was going to call for help. I swear to God I was.”
He wipes at his face roughly as tears fall. “But I had been drinking.”
“And in that moment all I could think about was what it would look like.” His voice breaks. “A drunk Doctor standing over a crashed car. I panicked.”
He stands suddenly, pacing a step away. “I kept thinking about everything we would lose. My license. My career…Our life.”
His voice cracks harder. “You.”
He runs both hands through his hair. “If I hadn’t honked, If I hadn’t flashed those lights…”
“If I had just let that car pass…”
His voice disappears.
Then he says quietly, “Maybe she’d still be alive.”
A long breath shudders out of him.
“That night… after I saw the car…” His voice drops. “I drove home.”
He looks down at his hands. “I was so angry at myself I couldn’t even breathe. I went outside and started punching the wall.”
