Page 100 of When Love Is Lost and Found

"Thank you. Would it be okay if I sat out here for a little while before I go?

"Of course," he says, his eyes filled with sympathy. "Stay as long as you need."

I find our bench and sit, closing my eyes to summon all the good memories of this house, this garden, this family. Yet, the crushing regret consumes me. In the back of my mind, I always believed Jon and I would meet again, that we'd have our second chance. I was wrong.

Chapter 20

Jon

As soon as I get home, Robert hands me Sharon's note and says, "She said she was leaving."

"Okay," I say. "I'll walk over there after I shower. Maybe she'll be back by then."

"I don't think she meant she was leaving to run errands," he says. "I think she was leaving for good."

"No," I say. "She'll be here for a couple of years."

I walk into the house before reading the note.

Dear Jon,

You don't have to move.

I hope you're able to forgive me someday.

Goodbye,

Sharon

I pick up the phone and call her, but there's no answer. I head over to the house, noticing her car is missing, but I knock on the back door anyway. As I step off the porch a minute later, I spot Patrick and Cara pulling up in Sharon's car.

"Where's Sharon?" I ask.

"We just dropped her off at the airport," Patrick says, getting out of the car and walking around to help Cara out of the passenger side.

"What?!"

"Yeah," he says, glancing at his watch. "She's probably boarding her flight right now."

"Where is she going?"

"She's going back to California."

"What do you mean she's going back to California?" I feel the ground crumble underneath my feet. "What about the house?"

"She sold it," Cara says. "You're looking at your new neighbors."

"She can't sell the house."

"It turns out she can," Patrick says. "We signed the papers yesterday."

"What about the car?"

"Get this," Patrick begins, "When I asked her where I should leave her car, she said the car came with the house and handed me the pink slip."

"Wow," I say with little enthusiasm. "Congratulations. I'm so happy for you. I really mean it."

"I can tell you're happy for us," Patrick says, "but I can tell you're not happy she's gone."

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