Page 103 of Gareth

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Aria’s stomach trembled as she guided her car past the outer limits of Serenity Point. Gripping the steering wheel tightly, she fought the urge to turn the vehicle around and head in the opposite direction.

The decision to return had been a difficult one. She’d ended up spending three nights at the small, rundown motel. The young woman—who she’d learned was named Jasmine or Jassy for short—had befriended her and talking with her in the quiet of the motel office had been refreshing.

In the middle of nowhere, she’d found someone who understood the depth of her grief and how it impacted everything. She’d listened as Aria had poured out everything that had happened, then she’d encouraged her to go back.

If you tell them everything and they reject you, then you can move forward with your life. But if you don’t give them a chance, you’ll always wonder what might have been.

Aria had realized that Jassy was right. If this was a chapter in her life that was closing, she needed to know that all of it had been written. And if there was any chance things could be worked out, she knew she wanted that.

What worried her, though, was that while Janessa might listen to her and give her a second chance, Gareth might not. Aria knew that there was every possibility that he would be so angry about everything that he wouldn’t be willing to even listen to her.

But Jassy was right, she had to do this in order to move forward.

During the trip back to Serenity Point, in between spikes of anxiety, Aria had formulated a plan of action. She didn’t feel comfortable going to Janessa’s house. It wasn’t her home anymore. It had ceased to be that the moment she’d carried her last suitcase out the front door.

So instead, she drove to the motel she’d found on the internet that was within her limited budget. She’d broken the trip into two days, so she was arriving early afternoon, giving her time to check in and try to settle her anxiety before going to talk to Gareth.

She planned to talk to him and then to Janessa. However, if Gareth wasn’t receptive to what she had to say, her conversation with Janessa would also include a goodbye.

The motel, though small, was in better shape than Jasmine’s, but Aria found that she missed her new friend. In the room a short time later, Aria sat on the edge of the bed, trying to quell her anxiety, tapping out a message to Jassy to let her know she’d arrived.

She didn’t know if Gareth would go home after the clinic closed, but she hoped he did. Her nerves and anxiety were becoming unbearable, and she had to keep her hands fisted so she didn’t scratch at her skin.

As the clock clicked toward five, Aria got up and went to the bathroom to make sure she looked okay. The dark circles under her eyes were impossible to hide, so she didn’t try too hard.

At five-fifteen, she took a moment to pray, though she wasn’t sure that God was listening to her. Finally, she got to where she just wanted to get the apology over with, so she left the room and headed for her car.

She’d only been to Gareth’s house once, but she remembered where it was. After parking down the street a ways from his property, she saw that his driveway was empty.

It was possible he had parked in the garage, but Aria decided to wait a few minutes before going to the house. Just in case he still wasn’t home from work.

As every minute passed, her anxiety continued to climb. As she swallowed against the nausea intensifying in her stomach, Aria began to question her plan. Maybe shedidn’tneed to know. Maybe she could move forward without talking to Gareth.

She closed her eyes and said another prayer for calm. After several deep breaths that did little to ease her nerves, Aria opened her eyes just in time to see Gareth pull his car into the driveway.

He didn’t park in the garage, so maybe he planned to go out again. That meant she didn’t have time to waffle around now that he was home.

With her heart pounding in her chest, she watched him walk around his car and head for the front door of his house. It was a home that she’d occasionally allowed herself to imagine what it might be like to live in one day.

That hadn’t been in her thoughts since Thursday… when her dreams of a life in Serenity had died.

Aria fought to make herself pull the handle to open the car door. If she waited any longer, her anxiety would force her to drive away and leave Serenity without accomplishing what she’d returned to do.

Grabbing her keys from the ignition, Aria got out of the car. She headed to the sidewalk, and though it felt like her shoes weighed a hundred pounds, she tried not to dawdle. It would only prolong the inevitable, which she was quite sure would be Gareth sending her on her way.

But at least she would have apologized. They deserved that much after all they’d done for her.

When she got to the steps, she paused for a moment before climbing them, gripping the railing tightly as she went. Once at the door, she took one final deep breath and pressed the doorbell.

It took a minute before the door swung open. Gareth had changed out of his work clothes into a pair of worn jeans and a T-shirt with a faded picture on the front.

“Can I talk to you?” she asked, clenching her hands together to stop them from trembling.

Gareth frowned, but he moved back. Aria tried not to let his lack of welcome dissuade her from her purpose. She stepped inside, then moved to the side so he could close the door.

His frown was still in place as he turned to face her, crossing his arms over his chest. His expression was one she’d never seen before, and there was no sign of the affectionate smile he always gave her.

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