Page 152 of Love Among Vines

Before he could second-guess himself, he signed up for a night class starting in January. Maybe it was time to follow that little voice.

Step one in his apology was complete. In the meantime, he needed to figure out how to make it up to Jade.

Tom cut into the brownies and took a bite.

“Holy shit, that’s good. You’ve been holding out on us.”

Rett straightened up. “Maybe I have. I need your help.”

“Of course. With what?”

“Call everyone and tell them to come here.”

“Everyone?”

“Everyone.”

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

JADE

Two days had passedsince her flight from the Finger Lakes. After a somewhat harrowing five-hour drive during which she had nearly leapt out of her car and screamed at another driver for following her too closely, she had arrived home without further incident. Rett’s car was in an overpriced garage in the Bronx, but at least she didn’t have to see it every day.

It was strange to be back in the city, as if she had never left on that fateful trip to the doomed wedding. It felt like years had passed since the disastrous union of Ashley and Nate, even though it had been a matter of weeks.

Despite leaving the town that returned it to her, her muse tingle didn’t disappear. Visions and images haunted all her waking and sleeping moments, begging to be transferred to canvas. A notebook next to her bed was littered with half-sketched ideas that would hopefully one day translate to canvas.

Some peculiar source of inspiration had washed over her. It was hard to describe in words, so she kept her titles short.

Rebirth. Karma. Feminist. Self-worth. They probably wouldn’t be the permanent titles of these chaotic mixed media pieces, but they felt true.

Her experience in the Finger Lakes had pulled some kind of cosmic cork out of her. Everything she had bottled up since the day her world had shattered was pouring out.

Her parents, the crescent moon clinging to the cityscape outside her window, a tipped-over trashcan on the street outside. Everything was an inspiration. It couldn’t have been more different from when she had left.

Was it the change of scenery? Something in the water or soil? Was it learning to open her heart again? Whatever it was, she’d be forever grateful that she had taken the risk.

Jade slid her headphones on and went for a run on her old route, Penny in tow. It was almost nice to be back on flat ground instead of fighting the never-ending hills and dips of Hammondsport.

But it wasn’t the same without Rett’s labored breathing beside her, panting and swearing. And then there was the scenery—as much as she loved the bodega down the block and the restaurants in her neighborhood, it just wasn’t as beautiful as sunrise on the lake.

She sighed and quickened her pace, heading north to Central Park. There were a couple of lakes there. Maybe that would be enough to fill the holes in her heart.

Her feet pounded the pavement, canvasing the familiar park. She and Nate had picnicked on the grass by the carousel. Her mother had taken her on weekend walks here while her dad was at work.

This place, the city and the surrounding areas, had been the only home she’d ever known.

But it wasn’t the same. She ached for the clean air and amber leaves. The empty roads, the small-town pace, and familiar faces. She had been in Hammondsport for less than a month and she had met half the town. But when she ended her run andclambered back up the steps to the fourteenth floor, she didn’t recognize the woman locking the apartment next door.

Maybe a change of neighborhood would do her some good. After a shower and breakfast from her favorite café—yikes, she really needed to cut back on the spending—she took the train over to an apartment with an opening in January she had found the night before.

Throggs Neck. A hilarious name, to be sure. She didn’t know much about the area, but Philip Avenue seemed, by all accounts, safe. She turned around on the front stoop and took in the street. She was a block back from the bay, which was a nice change of scenery. But the gray water didn’t look anything like the lake she had come to love. And there was no grass, only a handful of trees next to the apartment building.

The door opened behind her, and she shrieked.

“Sorry.” A middle-aged man chuckled behind the door. “You must be Jade?”

“Yes. Sorry for screaming in your face.”

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