The Last Time We Met by Anna E. Wahlgren

Author:Anna E. Wahlgren
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CROOKED LANE BOOKS

CHAPTER

18

Now

AVA’S BALCONY STRETCHES the entire width of the building, one of the ones I saw earlier, when my cab pulled up outside. That already feels like a lifetime ago, even though it’s just been a few hours. I can make out Adrian’s footsteps beneath the fresh snow that has fallen, and I walk as far as I can before leaning out over the railing. The wind is so strong that for a moment I worry it might actually blow me over the edge.

On the other side of the glass, beyond the living room, my engagement ring is lying on the dining table, as shiny and gleaming as I remember it. I should be thinking about William and everything I’ve lost, but the only thing on my mind is Dad and the betrayal that shaped my whole life.

I probably noticed it long before I ever actually understood. You could see it in the way he moved, hear it in his voice. Dad showered Mom with hugs and kisses, and he brought her roses every Friday, but I could see it in his eyes.

His thoughts were elsewhere.

It was a complete fluke that I caught him at it when I was thirteen or fourteen. I got home around twelve one day, and I remember that I thought it was weird that the door was unlocked, that I paused when I saw Dad’s shoes beside a pair of black heels in the hallway. I should have turned around right then and there, but instead I went in and stood at the foot of the stairs, with my hand on the rail. I could hear them upstairs. Heavy breathing, low voices. I knew they weren’t my mother’s shoes—she was so tall she always wore loafers, didn’t want to be taller than Dad when they went out together—and yet I couldn’t bring myself to leave before I knew for sure, so I went up the sweeping staircase and crossed the carpeted floor. I hesitated outside the door to Mom and Dad’s room, gripped the handle for a moment before I opened it, and there he was: in bed with the blond woman from a few doors down.

He made me swear not to tell Mom, said that the truth would kill her. I didn’t want to be the reason she was unhappy, did I? The whole thing was a huge mistake; it had never happened before and it wouldn’t happen again.

But it did.

It always did.

That’s how much a ring is worth. Ava might not have taken it, but she’d known exactly where it was. I’m sure she could see it all on my face back then, the dirt I could never quite wash off. The darkness in my eyes every time I looked in the mirror. I think Ava knew where things were heading before anything even happened, because I was a speeding train about to veer off the tracks, and there was nothing that could have stopped me from destroying what mattered most. It all started the day William first said he loved me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.