Page 20 of Crossroads of Love

“Showing up is a good start, but it’s not where it ends, Gav,” she says softly.

I know that, but I don’t know if I have the energy to do more than that.

“I understand.”

She looks at me for a long moment, and I see the pain she’s been carrying, the same pain I’ve been running from. It’s written all over her face—in the way her shoulders sag and the way her voice has lost its edge.

“I wish you hadn’t—” she says.

“Oh hey Lena, I’ve been looking for you.” A wiry man comes up behind us.

His eyes dart between Lena and me quickly.

“Not now, Hank,” she hisses.

She stops abruptly and groans before she turns and walks away, leaving me alone with my guilt. The man follows her like a dog. I swallow hard, fighting the urge to chase her.

Seeing her here today only reminds me that I never stopped loving her. I only told her that we couldn’t be seen together in Hicks Creek because I didn’t want to face the wrath of my father.

She showed her true colors when she ran right back into my brother’s waiting arms, though.

Just like my ex-wife, Sarah—neither of them has a loyal bone in their body.

I still love Lena and probably always will, but I can’t be with someone like her, and she’s made it perfectly clear that she doesn’t want me either.

I can’t do this. I need to leave and get back to the city. That’s where I belong.

I’ll call Jayla in the morning and send her tickets to come visit me. We’ll watch a Knicks game together or something. That’ll make up for it, right?

Instead of going back into the funeral home, I make a beeline for my car. The weight of the funeral, hearing everyone spout lies about how great my father was, of seeing Lena again, of everything, feels like too much to handle.

I tug at my tie, suddenly feeling like I’m being strangled and suffocated. I loosen it and the top few buttons of my shirt quickly, but it doesn’t give me any relief. I can’t face this church, the place where my father pretended to be a good man, and they all believed him. I can’t face this town and the shit memories any longer. The lies and the truth are fighting against each other, and they’re quickly taking me down with them.

As I pull away from the church, I don’t look back. I can’t.

Not yet.

Because I know that Lena is standing there, staring at me with tears in her eyes, silently pleading for me not to run away again. And if she’s not, Jayla is.

I’m not strong enough to handle seeing that.

Chapter Four

Lena

The drive to the farm is peaceful, the familiar hills of Hicks Creek rolling past the car window as the sun dips low in the sky. I glance over at Jayla in the passenger seat, her head bobbing along to the music. We’ve been on this road more times than I can count, but this time, it feels different.

It feels final.

I bite the inside of my cheek, fighting back all the tears that want to pour out again. I’ve cried so much over the past few days, I’m surprised there’s anything left.

Jayla and Henry were the only reason I stayed with Aaron, even after his lies and betrayal.

“I don’t want you here anymore, Aaron,” I told him a few days before his death.

“You always say that. You don’t mean it.” He chuckled. “You can’t survive without me financially.”

“You’re cheating on me again. I don’t care if we’re homeless…I won’t let Jayla…”

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