Page 189 of The Exit Strategy

For her.

For me.

For us.

33

THE CRUMBLING HOUSE

JUNIE

The housebefore me is a crumbling monstrosity that’s been handed down through my mother’s family for six generations, and if the family fables are to be believed, each generation was only slightly less toxic than the last.

When Nolan and I were young, we made a pact to be better than our parents. Now I wonder if that’s possible when the past keeps you shackled to their pain.

The property was always a source of pride for everyone who lived here, but pride has a way of tainting reality.

I step inside, waiting for that sense of…home to hit me. With all its ghosts and painful memories, I still thought I’d feel…something. But the second I close the front door, I know I’m wrong.

This place is as cold as it’s ever been. Haunted by people who never healed.

The only place I’ve ever felt at home was…the only place I’ve ever felt at home was with Cole.

I walk the halls, dragging my fingertips along wallpaper I never chose. Drapes that hang with the heaviness of generations past.

It’s a sad house that even the Berry Brigade never managed to cheer up.

It’s always felt like the end to me—there was never a hopeful beginning here. Why did I not understand that before?

My phone vibrates, and I pull it out, expecting the group chat, but instead, it’s…

Cole: I’m glad you arrived safely.

Cole: I understand your need for space.

Cole: I’ll be here when you’re ready.

After six years of silence, he tries. It means more than I can dissect right now.

Junie: Thank you.

Turning off my phone, I stand in the kitchen—the meeting ground for the only memories of this place I want to keep.

The good memories didn’t come from my parents.

They came from the family who chose me.

They came from Cole.

I sit in the chair that had always silently been mine and in a blink of an eye, every private moment between us plays in technicolor as I soak in the warmth.

Do you often throw things away?

I do.

I did.

But now, sitting here in this sad, empty house, I know how to keep what matters.