Ivey Pierce is an explorer, and thanks to her career as a wildlife biologist, she does not stay stationary for long. But when her parents die in a terrible accident, and her childhood home is left vacant for two years, she returns to the tattered me...
اوووه! هذه الصورة لا تتبع إرشادات المحتوى الخاصة بنا. لمتابعة النشر، يرجى إزالتها أو تحميل صورة أخرى.
I SNUCK OUT OF Weston's house early the following day, sobbing into the New York University tee shirt he lent me as I folded my clothes and shoved them into my suitcase.
Tomorrow, I will leave Clifton.
I'd leave this house and the memories it held.
And I would leave the man across the bay.
Where'd you go? Weston texted an hour later, and I replied, saying I needed some time to myself, but truthfully, I didn't want him to see me crying. He told me he would be over after work, and we'd cook dinner one last time.
"Oh, Honey," Kate attempted to console me over the phone. "Do you still want to come home?"
"Yes," I wiped my nose, staring at the ceiling of the living room.
"Okay, I'll pick you up from the airport."
"Thank you."
The phone hummed as silence lingered between us.
I called my best friend to confirm pick-up times for tomorrow, though the second I heard her voice, tears poured from me. It had been a while since I told her what had happened between Weston and me, the fundraiser, Nora's explosion, and Zoe. But after explaining the abridged version and promising the whole story when we were two bottles deep in wine, she still had many questions.
"You two haven't talked about what will happen when you leave?"
"No, we haven't, and I don't think we will."
"If you like him, then I think it's a conversation worth having, Ives."
I ran my hands down my wet face. Weston and I avoided every opportunity to talk about what was next because neither of us knew. We would be on entirely different sides of the country, and Weston wanted me to move forward, which sounded like he wanted to stay a part of my soon-to-be past.
"It's not like you won't have your parent's house to visit," Kate said earnestly. "Maybe that is why you didn't end up selling it like you'd planned!"
Kate firmly believed that everything happened for a reason and that the universe placed people in each other's lives with a purpose. On the other hand, I constantly questioned my experiences because some things did not seem to have a reason for occurring—like the loss of my parents.
"Maybe, but I still need to sell it. It's like a dead limb, just sucking the life from me."
"Well, we will take care of your dead limb another time. I think you should focus on what your heart needs for once," she paused. "You deserve to be happy, Ivey."
My lip trembled as I told her I loved her and looked forward to seeing her tomorrow.
I spent the afternoon downloading the photos Weston, and I took at the cove, taking a couple more special ones for him, and vigorously cleaning. I even took some time sorting through some of my parent's belongings, placing priceless items in a safe in the basement and some in my bag to take home. Then, I finished my chores by draping the furniture with freshly washed covers, leaving the house exactly how it looked when I arrived weeks ago—except with significantly less dust now.
