Page 139 of Summer After Summer

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. And despite what you might think, nothing happened between us. Nothing.”

“Not this time.”

I sit back on my heels. “What do you want me to say?”

“I don’t know.”

“How did this become about me? My past?”

“It’s always been about you. About him.”

“That’s not fair.”

He rubs his face. “Maybe not, but it’s true.”

“So, what? We just give up?”

“No, I don’t … Can’t we leave? Go back to New York?”

“I have to finish the house.”

“Your sisters can do that.”

“They won’t, though.”

Wes takes my hand. “But you could let them. Let go of all of this. It’s just things you were happy not to see for the last twenty years. It can’t be more important than us. But if it is, then there’s your answer.”

“So, what—we leave today? What about the transfer? The party? The estate sale?”

Wes sighs. “That’s weeks away. We could come back for it.”

“We can’t run away from our problems. If we’re going to make it, we need to figure out a way to do that where it’s hard, not where it’s easy.”

“So we stay, and then?”

“We go home.”

“Together?”

I let out my breath slowly. “Yes.”

He breaks into a smile. “Really?”

“I think so … I’m willing to try anyway.” I stand and reach out my hand. “Do I need to take you to the hospital?”

“No.” He takes my hand and I pull him up, then he gathers me close to him. “This will be good. This is going to be good for us.”

I let him fold me against him, and it does feel good. Wes and I have always felt good together, regardless of everything that’s pushed us apart.

“I love you, Olivia,” Wes says.

“I love you too.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

March 2018

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