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There was only an endless summer, ripe with possibilities, unbreakable friendship, and memories of a love story that would forever keep me warm. Every love story served a purpose, but not every purpose was the same. Reed tended to my wounds when I was broken-down and damaged. He molded my fear into strength. He gave me tools, wisdom, and hope for better days.
He found me when I was lost.
Now, only I held the power to chart my own course and find my way back to myself.
I was breathless when we pulled into Reed’s apartment complex. Winded from laughter and living. Unbuckling my belt, I jumped out of the car, the smile still glued to my cheeks by each corner of my mouth.
Tara swooped ahead of me, gesturing me forward, and we headed down the familiar hallway to apartment seventeen. I refused to let the burdens of my fear and poor choices hinder my epiphany. All I could do was stand by Tara’s side and be her courage, while swallowing down my nerves.
“Dad?” Tara popped the key into the keyhole and pushed open the door. “Dad, it’s me. You home?”
Following behind her, I glanced around the near-barren apartment, making sure there was no evidence of me littered on the couch, strewn across the floor, or twisted in the bed sheets. I swallowed, noting Reed was mostly packed. He’d scrubbed me from his space.
“Damn.” Tara peeked into the empty rooms. “He must be at the studio.”
A sigh of relief fell out as I fiddled with my hair and stared down at my toenails. “Guess so.”
“It’s weird seeing all these boxes,” she said, entering the second bedroom and flipping on the light switch. “Feels so real.”
It did feel real.
We felt real.
And now we were quickly becoming nothing more than memories, slipping through my fingers like grains of sand.
I pressed a hand to her bicep and gave her a comforting squeeze. “It’ll be okay. He’ll come visit us. And it’ll be fun to take cross-country road trips and dip our toes in the ocean.”
She nodded. “I suppose he could’ve picked worse places to live.” Tara stepped fully inside the room, assessing the tidy space. The twin bed was made, a few posters still stuck to plaster. A photograph of Tara and Reed sparring at the park rested beside a lamp on the nightstand, one of the only personal mementos still unpacked.
Tara’s profile softened with a smile as she honed in on the picture frame. “I love this one. Thank you for taking it.”
Memories from that spring morning washed over me like a breeze, back when I’d been seated on the park bench with Ladybug curled around my feet. “I have lots more. We can hang them around the house.”
She grinned. “True. He can’t complain about being in pictures if he’s not here to look at them.”
I watched as Tara reached into the pocket of her cut-off jean shorts and pulled something out. She unfolded another picture—the one of her and Reed on prom night, standing beneath the white ash tree.
Tara’s head was tipped sideways in the shot, pressed to his broad shoulder, his arm wrapped around her waist as they posed for the camera. They were both smiling; indelibly happy.
Tara sighed, studying the photograph and flattening out the crease along the center. Plucking the gilded frame off the nightstand, she turned it over and unhooked the back piece of cardboard. “I’m updating this. I look way better when I’m not dripping with sweat. I can smell my B.O. from here.”
Chuckling, I slipped my hands into the pockets of my sundress and rocked back on my sandals. “He’ll love it.”
“I know. Dad always…”
Her words trailed off.
I was staring out the window at a little trio of bluejays floating through leafy branches when my attention returned to Tara and her sudden silence. Her face morphed from carefree and gleeful into a look that had my insides pitching and my knees wobbling. “What is it?”
She turned her back to me, her head bowed forward as she stared down at something.
“Tara, what?” My heart started pounding. My airways tightened, the light mood thickening with black tension. “Tara?—”
“What the hell is this?”
She whipped around, her hair flying over her shoulder as her cheeks turned scarlet.
In slow motion, I let my eyes fall to her outstretched hand.