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“What are you doing?”
“I just want to run.”
HESTOODTHEREfor a moment and watched her, her blond hair flying behind her as she took off and went barreling through the field. And then he kicked his own shoes off and ran after her.
By the time he caught up to her, his heart was pounding.
She spread her arms wide and turned in a circle. And then she turned to face him.
“I can’t believe it.”
“What?”
“I can’t believe I’m here with you. I can’t believe I’m here. After being afraid of it for so long.”
“What were you afraid of?”
“That I would somehow become part of it again. I don’t know. But it’s not all bad here, is it? What was bad was the things my dad did. I let it all become kind of shameful. I let myself be afraid that I was only doing okay because I had put so much distance between myself and this place. Myself and...”
“Me?”
She shook her head. “No. You were never the bad part. You were never the thing I was ashamed of. I just didn’t know how to take the good and leave the bad. I didn’t know how to deal with the shame of my drug dealer father who hurt people to collect money, who worked with Elias King and hurt people in our own community. I just want to remember you. Remember that this place is beautiful.” He looked around, at the trees that surrounded the field, at the brilliant blue sky.
It was beautiful. The kind of way that reached down deep into his soul. The kind of way that punched him in the gut. Left him gasping for air.
The kind of beautiful that made a new foundation inside of him. That had set the standard. That made everything else pale in comparison.
Just like her.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sorry that I didn’t come back for you.”
“And I’m sorry that I didn’t come after you.”
It was like seeing everything brand-new again. It was like finding hope.
Or maybe it was just what he thought when he’d seen her in the store. Salvation.
“It’s okay. I get why you didn’t.”
There was more to be said, but it was lodged in his chest, stuck there like a boulder. And he couldn’t quite figure out how to shift it.
“It’s getting late,” she said. “We probably want to head back before it gets dark.”
“Why is that?”
“I’m new to the motorcycle riding thing. It’s still a little bit scary.”
“Okay.”
She clung to him while they rode back, and he relished the feel of her warm weight against him. Maybe this was what he was looking for. He hadn’t had an answer for her. But now he wondered.
He really did. But instead of saying that, when she got off his bike and started to walk toward her car, he just waved.
“I need to go home,” she said. “So that they don’t worry.”
“All right.”
She bit her bottom lip, and looked up at him, her eyes glistening.
