Page 75 of Escape
“I remember you telling me it was your dream to do that and help prevent families from losing their loved ones. I guess I was wondering if you had changed your mind,” he returned.
I shook my head. “No. No, that’s never changed for me. That’s another reason why I’m eager to get back to work. I’ll be able to start saving more money, get my bills and my life sorted, and finally take those steps to fulfill that dream.”
“You’re such a strong and determined woman, Josie, I have no doubt you’ll be right where you intend to be in no time at all.”
“I hope you’re right,” I murmured.
He smiled at me and promised, “I am.”
“There is one more thing I was kind of hoping to talk to you about, but I’m not sure how you’ll feel about it,” I said.
“You can talk to me about anything,” he assured me.
I inhaled a deep breath, watched as Huck braced himself, and exhaled slowly. “I want to sell my ring.”
“What?”
“The engagement ring that Kurt gave me,” I clarified. “I happened to still have it on me when I was taken to the hospital, so it came back to your house with me. I want to sell it. I mean, today was my first therapy session. I’m taking these steps toward a new future. Even though there are things lingering that I still need to work through, I don’t need that ring as a reminder. I feel like it’d be a good way to not only cover some costs associated with my medical bills, but it’s sort of my way of solidifying this new path my life is taking.”
Huck didn’t immediately respond. He took in the words I’d shared and considered them for a bit before he responded. “I will support you in any way that I can throughout this journey, Josie. If selling that ring feels like the right thing for you to do, I’ll be right by your side while you let go of it.”
“Do you think it’s what I should do?”
“I don’t think I get a vote in this, if I’m honest. But if you truly want my opinion, I can’t imagine why you’d want to hold on to something that would only serve as a reminder of something horrific in your life, something you’re never going to go back to.”
I was so glad he felt that way because it was precisely how I felt, too. There was a level of confidence I felt about where my life was headed, and Kurt didn’t factor into the equation any longer. There was no sentimental value associated with the ring, only heartache and despair. Getting rid of it was the best thing I could do.
“It’s settled, then. I want to research where to get rid of the ring and put that bad decision behind me,” I declared.
Huck smiled proudly at me.
And a few beats later, whether he realized I needed it or not, Huck shifted the conversation. “So, I’ve got a question.”
“What’s that?”
He took a sip of his water, placed the cup back down on the table, and asked, “Do you think it’s strange that we’ve both been in Steel Ridge all these years, and we never ran into each other until recently?”
If that wasn’t the million-dollar question. “I don’t know if I’d call it strange. Honestly, I think it makes sense.”
He raised a curious brow. “It makes sense?”
“I didn’t get out much, Huck,” I explained. “I really don’t want to spend my entire lunch here with you talking about Kurt, but after I got together with him, I slowly changed things about myself and accepted things I wouldn’t have. He was smart in how he did it—being wonderful to me in the beginning and making me feel like I’d finally found something special—and before I even realized what was happening, I had no job, no friends, and no car.”
“How did you end up at the diner, then?”
Ugh, more conversation about Kurt. “I convinced him I could help. He wound up having several unexpected things happen to him at once, so he was seriously short on cash. I had been wanting to figure a way out for a long time, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity. I pretended to be all in with helping him out of the rough spot he was in financially, but I was saving a small portion of my tips every shift.”
Huck’s frustration was clear as day. “I guess it makes sense, then. You weren’t going out anywhere unless you were going to the diner.”
“Exactly. And since the day you stopped into the diner was the first day you’d ever been there, that’s why we never saw each other,” I reasoned. “Though, I guess I have to admit that had I known you were back home, I might have tried looking you up.”
My intention with sharing that hadn’t been to upset Huck, but it was obvious I’d done just that. “I’m sorry, Josie. There are so many things I wish I’d done differently.”
I shook my head and waved my hand in the air, as though dismissing the thought. “We’re here now. If what I think is true is the case, neither one of us is going to allow us to be separated from one another like that again. We can’t change what’s already happened, Huck, but we can make it better in the future, right?”
The disappointment he’d been feeling seemed to have vanished as he smiled at me. “Yeah, honey, we can definitely do that.”
His voice was so soft and sweet, it was a wonder I didn’t melt on the spot.