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“Didn’t she tell you?” I said, cocking my head. “He’s that guy she met at Xander’s Halloween party last year. They’ve been seeing each other ever since then.”
“Really?” Jensen’s forehead creased. “How have I not heard about this? She literally lives with us.”
“Well, it started out really slow because of all the drama last year. It’s only in the last couple of months that they’ve actually put an official label on it,” I said. “I caught them making out in the breakfast nook last week. I think you were still asleep, so you wouldn’t have seen it.”
Jensen grinned. “Good for Addy,” he said. His eyes skated down to my midsection again. “Not the only good thing that started on Halloween, is it?”
I widened my eyes in a faux-innocent expression. “Oh, you mean this?” I said, pulling my graduation gown around myself to show off my swollen belly. “I’m just a little bloated, that’s all.”
He snorted with amusement and shook his head. “And you think I’m the one with the bad sense of humor.”
I grinned. “I’m willing to admit that we’re probably as bad as each other.”
“I think I can agree with that.” He turned to look at the marquee again. “I’ll go and look for your food now. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
He leaned down to kiss the top of my head again. Then he turned and strode down the steps, gaze fixed on the banquet marquee. I spent the next few minutes humming softly to myself as I scrolled through a funny Twitter thread about cats getting stuck in ridiculous places in their houses.
“Amerie?”
A tentative female voice said my name, and I swiveled around on my seat to look behind me. A middle-aged brunette woman with bright blue eyes was standing there, hands twisting nervously in front of her. I was fairly certain we’d never met before, but a distinct air of familiarity surrounded her anyway.
“Uh… yes. Do I know you?” I asked, wondering if she was yet another journalist hoping to get a new piece of information about the Rosmerta case, as if it hadn’t been dissected to death in the media already.
“No. Not really.” The woman swallowed audibly and took a step closer. “I’m Skye. Skye Munroe.”
My mouth fell open. “You’re…”
“Your bio mother,” she said softly.
“W-what are you doing here?” I asked, so shocked I could barely muster the words.
“I’m sorry to just show up like this,” she said. “I tried to contact you a few times with the email address you have listed on your social media, but I never heard back from you.”
“I didn’t see them.” I swallowed hard and cleared my throat. “I get so many emails every day, ever since all that stuff happened last year.”
Skye nodded. “I figured that’s probably what happened,” she said with a tight smile. “Anyway, I went on the school newspaper website and saw an article about the upcoming graduation ceremony, and I thought… well, I just wanted to see you.”
“Oh.” My voice was coming out in a nervous squeak now.
“I know I have no right to be in contact with you after what I did when you were a baby. But I’ve always wondered about you. Where you ended up, how you were doing… always. Then, with everything that happened last year, I found out you were living here, only twenty minutes away from my original hometown, and I… I just…” She trailed off, nervously rubbing at the side of her neck. “I just wanted to tell you that I’m so proud of you, and that I truly regret what I did back then. I should never have abandoned you and your father like that. I carry it with me every day. All that guilt.”
I stared at her with wide eyes, uncertain of how to react or what to say.
“Anyway… I can leave now, if that’s what you want,” Skye went on. “I completely understand if that’s the case.”
I remained silent, gnawing on the inside of my cheek as I considered her words. She wasn’t asking me for forgiveness, but it was clear she would happily embrace it if I gave it to her.
Over the last year, I’d learned that forgiveness was a strange, fickle thing. Never a straight road. It often came when you felt you didn’t deserve it, and you could also be inspired to give it to others when they least expected it.
For example, I absolutely hated Piper’s guts once upon a time, but after everything that went down with the Rosmerta Society last year, I’d completely wiped the slate clean and forgiven her for everything she’d done to me because I felt like she’d earned it. Such a transformation would’ve seemed impossible to my past self, but now the two of us were so close that we might as well be sisters.
I’d experienced forgiveness from the opposite end of the spectrum, too. In March, I flew over to Washington with Jensen to see Shania and the rest of my old circle of friends from Howland for a bit of moral support after dealing with the media frenzy for months on end. With Jensen’s encouragement, Shania and I worked up the courage to tell the others the truth about what happened with Ethan at the lake all those years ago, and we were forgiven instantly. They understood why we felt so much crushing guilt, but none of them blamed us. From that moment on, I felt a thousand times better, like an enormous weight had fallen off my shoulders.
Sometimes people just needed a chance.
Skye was already beginning to turn away, so I stood and reached for her shoulder. “Wait,” I said. “I’d like you to stay.”
She looked at me, eyes wide. “Really?”
