Instead, she started her engine and drove. She had no idea where she was going, but she couldn’t stay still any longer. She continued around the lake while memories of the past week flashed through her mind—kissing Jake in the rain, kissing Jake in their fort, kissing Jake in the barn, kissing Jake in his parents’ basement.
Her body began to tremble again. What had gone wrong between them? Had it all been some cruel joke? Jake and his friends, including Claire, had loved to pull pranks in high school. The night before senior year started, they had broken into the school and covered the principal’s office with toilet paper. And after prom, they’d filled the main hallways with balloons.
Had Jake pulled the ultimate prank when he found out that Emily had always been in love with him? Did he just pretend to care for her before pulling the rug out from under her?
But she’d known Jake nearly her entire life, and he’d never been callous or cruel. The pranks he’d pulled had been harmless, not hateful. Plus, he’d stood up to bullies on the playground to defend the smaller kids. She’d never once known him to deliberately hurt anyone.
So then why would he have lied to Emily and convinced her he cared about her? Had their fake relationship been part of a bigger plot? Perhaps Jake used Emily to make Claire jealous? She wiped away more tears, continued driving, and mulled it over.
But that didn’t make sense! If he’d only used her, then why had he planned their romantic evenings together in the barn, by thelake, and in the fort? If he’d only wanted to get Claire’s attention, then he wouldn’t have actually acted like Emily’s boyfriend. He wouldn’t have asked Emily to stay in Splendid Lake and encouraged her to open a gallery in town.
But if Jake truly cared for Emily... then why had he proposed to Claire?
Emily hit the brakes and glanced around the street. Her plan had been to drive aimlessly, but she suddenly realized that she’d driven to her childhood home.
Her body began to vibrate. She’d been avoiding this place since she arrived in Splendid Lake, but she’d accidentally driven there.
Had it been an accident? Or had she subconsciously craved the love and protection of her childhood, her home, and her beloved parents?
She bit her lower lip, parked her Jeep in the driveway, and stared down the long, winding driveway toward the large colonial. Did she have the courage to face this house after she’d lost the man who was most precious to her?
Her eyes filled again, and she pushed herself out of her Jeep before walking halfway up the driveway. Slowly she scanned the enormous front yard and the large house that had once been her sanctuary.
Warm lights glowed in the windows while memories rolled through her mind like old movies. She recalled the Christmas tree that had once adorned the picture window at the front of the house. She smelled the fresh pine and envisioned the piles of colorful packages there. She could still hear her parents’ laughter while they opened gifts and sang Christmas carols in front of a roaring fire in the fireplace.
She remembered the Thanksgivings gathered around the dining room table, talking, laughing, and eating with her parents andgrandparents. And the days spent out in their boat—enjoying the beloved lake and their wonderful family.
But then there were the memories of Jake.
Jake.
The hundreds—no, thousands—of times she and Jake had watched movies in the den, talked for hours on the deck, listened to oldies music in her bedroom, and sat out on the dock and dreamed about their futures. And all the while, Emily had been fantasizing that he would pick her as his life partner.
Just recently she’d believed her dream had come true. She had loved and lost her parents, but she thought she finally had Jake all to herself—until he changed his mind.
Now she had no one. She was all alone.
Her chest felt as if had been cracked open, and her world crumbled around her.
All of the grief that Emily had kept locked inside her heart since her parents died erupted like a volcano, and she dropped to her knees as more tears overcame her.
She’d lost everything—everything! Without Jake she was a boat without its rudder, lost at sea.
Emily sat on the ground and took deep, shuddering breaths until she regained control of herself. Then she picked herself up and threw herself into her Jeep.
She drove the short distance to Jake’s parents’ house, ran up to her room, and grabbed the box she’d found in the basement, along with a battery-powered lantern, her sketch pad, and colored pencils. Then she drove to the far side of the orchard and left her Jeep under a tree canopy before trudging through the trees.
She stopped at the entrance to the path that led to her former home. She paused and took a deep breath. For a moment she considered walking down the path that led to her old backyard.But the memories felt too painful, still too raw for her to face them.
But she had to. She had to work through that grief, or she’d never move past it. She lifted her chin and drew up all of the courage she could muster deep inside herself.
I can do this.
With her heart thudding in her chest, she ambled down the path, and her eyes focused on a piece of her childhood—the swing her father had hung from a tree overlooking the lake shortly after they’d moved into the house. She’d spent countless hours out there pumping her legs and pretending to swing all the way up to the sky, floating up high enough to touch the fluffy clouds. She smiled as the memories of childhood overtook her mind once again. Life was so easy then. Her home was filled with love and laughter, and she never imagined that she would have to bury her parents when she was only twenty-five.
She faced her former house again, and the light in the window had dimmed. Instead, outdoor lights glowed on the corners of the house and over the large deck that the new owners had renovated. Lights also illuminated the in-ground pool surrounded by a concrete patio and a cabana. Nearby was an impressive dock where a boat—a yacht, really—was moored.
It wasn’t the same yard where she’d run around flying kites, playing tag, or drawing. The new owners had definitely made good use of the land, as Claire’s mother had so graciously pointed out. Emily tried to ignore the sadness crowding her chest. The home she’d known since she was five was gone, and she’d lost Jake to Claire. It was too much to process at once.
