* * *
When the knocksounded on the door that night, I ran out of my room in the hopes that he was back. That he’d realized he couldn’t live without me. Mommy was already at the door in her pink silk nightgown, the one that made her look like a real queen. I walked softly, so she wouldn’t hear me. I sat on the second stair from the top where I’d be able to see the door clearly without being noticed. She let the uniformed men in and closed the door.
“Mrs. Gregory?” the tallest policeman asked.
"Yes, is everything alright?" She asked, confused.
The two men looked at each other then back at her. "I'm afraid we have some bad news, Ma'am," one of the men said.
“What is it?”
“Your husband was in an accident a few hours ago,”
Mom placed her hand over her mouth.
I knew what an accident was, and it was a terrible thing. My grandparents were in a crash, and grandpa didn't have a car after. Grandma used a walker ever since.
“I’m afraid he didn’t make it. The paramedics tried everything, but there was no use.” the second officer said.
My mother crouched on the floor. She still held her hands to her mouth, and the sounds that left her sent shivers down my spine.
“He’s dead?” she asked when she could get a word out.
“Yes, I’m sorry, Mrs. Gregory.”
I ran down the stairs. "Mama, it can't be true," I shouted, running into her arms.
She held me close, tears streaming down her face and mine, and at that moment, I didn't feel sorry for her. I blamed her. She was the one who caused all of this.
"I hate you," I shouted, breaking free from her embrace. "You sent Daddy away. I hate you, I'll always hate you."
I left her sitting there, wide-eyed with the police officers, and bolted up to my room. I shut my door and fell on my bed, allowing myself to cry all the tears in the world. They flowed like a waterfall.
My Dad was gone, and he wasn’t coming back.
I was all alone.
Chapter 3
Tara
Present Day
"Tara? Tara Hale?" a new physical therapist stood in front of me, his hands on his hips, a giant grin on his face. "Well, I'll be damned."
“It’s Tara Craig now. Do I know you?” I didn’t care how rude I sounded.
“It’s me, Jude Finn.”
"Jude?" I frowned, looking at him carefully, and sure enough, it was him. "It is you," I said disinterestedly. A good ol’ blast from the past, I thought sarcastically.
“Yeah, it’s been years.” He looked completely shocked. “It is so good to see you. You’re still as beautiful as I remember.”
For a moment, I thought that he was going to reach for my hand, so I froze until he placed his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants.
I inwardly sneered at his comment but said nothing. He would understand soon enough that I was no longer the Tara he used to know. Inside I begged him to ask me how I had been the last fifteen years since we'd seen each other. I wanted to tell him everything, all the horror so that it would wipe that happy look off his face.
“Where is Brooke?” I asked him. Brooke was my usual therapist. I didn’t do well with change, especially this particular one.
