Page 13 of Fragments of You

I don’t know what I expected, coming back after so many years, after how I left. But P and Felix... Yeah, I definitely never saw that coming.

“What do you want, Iris?” I repeat, not trying to hide my irritation.

“When I heard the Nash Ketter was back in town, I just had to see for myself.”

“If you’ve come here to bitch me out, or whatever the fuck you’re going to do, save it. I really don’t give a shit what you think of me.”

“I take it you saw Paisley.” A brief moment of understanding passes over her face.

“Like she didn’t already tell you all about it.”

“She didn’t, actually.”

I can’t suppress the look of surprise that wrinkles my forehead.

“A lot has changed since you left town,” she explains.

“Yeah, that became pretty obvious yesterday when I learned Felix stole my fucking girl.”

“Not to be one of those state the obvious kind of people, but she kind of hasn’t been your girl for a long time. Kinda hard for someone to steal something that no longer belongs to you.”

“Paisley will always belong to me.”

“Not from where I’m standing.”

“Again, why are you here?”

“Maybe I just wanted to catch up with an old friend. We were friends once, were we not?”

“That was a long time ago.”

“Well, if you’d like, I can just hate you like everyone else does.”

“You don’t already?”

“I did, at first. I hated what you did to Paisley. But then something happened, and I realized that you didn’t do it to her, you did it for her.”

“And how exactly did you come up with that conclusion?” I sneer, even though there’s definite truth to her words.

“When I learned the truth about where you went.”

My stomach knots, unease seeping through my pores—not that I would ever show it.

“Why didn’t you tell her?” She moves around the room, gazing down into various boxes. “Or better yet, why didn’t Felix?” The mere mention of that traitorous asshole makes my skin crawl. “I assume he knew why you left.”

“Not at first, but eventually, I told him the truth.”

“So why didn’t you tell Paisley?”

“Because if I told her the truth, she would have waited for me, and I didn’t want her to waste her life waiting on a pipe dream. I couldn’t see any light at the end of that tunnel. I was so certain I’d never escape it.”

“But you’re here now, and from the looks of you, you did.”

“Too late, it would seem.”

“Now that’s not the Nash Ketter I know. That man would never accept defeat, no matter how grim it looked.”

“That’s because he was a delusional addict. Easy to make yourself believe things when you don’t exactly live in reality.” I scuff the toe of my shoe against the dirty wood floor. “How did you find out?”

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