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We spend the next few minutes in silence, eating the food while occasionally looking up at each other.
She’s the first to break. “Can I ask you something?”
I shrug. “Sure.”
“What made you drive into the ditch last night?”
Well, there’s a topic changer if ever I heard one.
I wipe the corner of my mouth with a paper napkin. “I um… I think I maybe saw something on the road…” Of course, it’s a lie—a big fat one. And she knows it, too, going by the way she’s watching me.
“That’s funny…” She pauses a beat. “Most people will usually brake before they swerve, and I didn’t see any tire marks on the road. Plus, the airbags went off, which means you must have been going fast enough...”
I look down at my food, my heart racing, stomach dropping. “What are you, a detective?” I try to joke.
“Just observant.”
“I was tired,” I admit. “I’d driven a long way, and I wasn’t getting the best sleep even before that.”Because I was too consumed by a stupid puzzle.
“Or…” she says, and I instantly fear what she has to say next. “Maybe you couldn’t see the road properly because you were crying?”
I scoff, looking away. If guilt had a face, it would be mine. “What? No!”
“It’s a small town, Jamie. A few people saw the RV in the ditch. And more than a few people are talking about how Holden acted toward you at the diner.”
I cringe at the thought, but I won’t back up her claims. I refuse to speak badly about Holden to anyone. I caused his reaction, and the consequences of them are something he has to deal with far more and longer than I do. In a few days, I’ll be gone. He’ll be here forever.
“I shouldn’t have come here,” I tell her. It’s a thought that’s exhausted me ever since I’d admitted it to myself.
“Why not?”
I flick around food with my fork, refusing to meet her eyes. Then I shrug because it’s the only thing I can offer.
After a beat of silence, she says, “You know we’ve met before…”
My hand stills, my heart doing the same. Idoknow. We met in the hospital. She and Big H drove through the night to be with Holden after the attack. With a nod, I answer, “I wasn’t sure if you’d remembered me.”
“I do.”
I look up just in time to see her smile turn sad, and I wonderhow muchshe knows.
“Jamie…” My name is a sigh when it leaves her lips. “When you look back at that time in your life…”Yeah, she knows enough.Maybe even too much.“Are your reasons for leaving still valid?”
I don’t skip a beat when I answer, “Absolutely.”
Maggie seems to take in my response and asks, “And your reasons forstayingaway? Are they still valid?”
I’ve grown weaker in the space of minutes. “Yes,” I whisper.
Her chest rises with her sharp inhale. “Does Holden know why you left?”
I shake my head. “No, and he’s told me flat out that he doesn’t want to know.”
“Do youwantto tell him?”
I hold her eyes now, refusing to back down. “No.”
“Why not?”
