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During the months after our attack, Zeke and I became close. Jamie’s physical and mental recovery became our priority, and we worked in tandem to make sure she got through it. She was way stronger than we both expected, but she was also…lost. And confused. The problem was, she didn’t know it at the time. And neither of us had the heart to tell her because all we wanted back then, and I’m sure even now, was for her to be happy.
“It’s good to see you, kid,” Zeke says, slapping my back twice before letting me go. “Jamie didn’t mention you were in town.”
He slides into the booth, and I sit opposite him. “I just got in yesterday.”
Zeke nods. “When do you leave?”
“Tonight.”
“That’s a quick visit.”
“Yeah, I gotta get back to work.”
Zeke nods again, leaning forward, his forearms resting on the table. “So, what’s up?”
I lean back in the seat. “Well, I should probably start by saying sorry for the whole punching you thing.”
His eyebrows lift.
I continue, “I had a lot going on at the time. I’d just come back from visiting a college that would take away from Jamie, and when I got back, I went straight to the pool house to see her, and it was trashed, and I was worried that something had happened to her, and then you showed up, and you gave me her old drawing and told me she was gone, and I... I just—”
“You don’t need to apologize,” he interrupts. “I told Jamie I’d have done the same.”
“Still.” I shrug. “It wasn’t right. You’re like a father to her, and I shouldn’t have laid a hand on you.”
“Apology accepted.” He cracks a smile. “Now quit the bullshit. Why are you here?”
I force out an exhale and sit taller. “Is she happy?”
He cocks his head to one side. “What exactly are you asking me?”
“I want her back, Zeke.”
He nods as he settles in, extending his arm over the back of the booth. “Doessheknow that?”
“I haven’t said the exact words…”
“Why not?”
I swallow, nervous. “Because I don’t know if fighting for her—forus—is going to make things worse. If she’s happy, then I’ll leave. I’ll get back on a plane to North Carolina, and I’ll never contact her again, and she can live the life she deserves.”
Zeke works his jaw, watching me, scrutinizing my every word. Finally, he states, “I don’t know.”
Disappointment slams against my chest, weakening every muscle, every beat of my heart. “All right.”
“I can tell you this,” Zeke says, sitting forward again. “I’ve never seen her happier than when she’s with you, but things change, Holden. You guys—you’re not the same kids who vandalized my diner.” He jerks his head toward the window, and I chuckle in response. “Now, I have a question for you.”
“Go for it.”
“Where the fuck have you been the past five years?”
“I—”
“Did she tell you why she left?”
I drop my gaze, shame biting at my insides. “I told her I didn’t want to know.”
“Well, it might be better that way,” he’s quick to say. He waits until I lift my eyes to add, “She came back to you, Holden. Not once. Not twice. But three times now. If that isn’t a clear enough message, then I don’t know.” He gets out of the booth and stands right over me. “Do you have it?” he asks.
