beach (5)

Lena didn’t feel stronger. She felt cracked. But maybe that was what growth looked like. “I wasn’t sure you’d come,” Jamie said. “I wasn’t sure either.” Silence stretched between them, filled only by the push and pull of waves and the distant cry of gulls.

Lena watched the water instead of Jamie. “You just disappeared,” she said. “Like a magician with no final act.” Jamie winced. “I know.” “I thought you were dead.”

“I almost was. A few times.” Lena turned sharply. “That’s not funny.” “I’m not joking.” And there it was—the same brutal honesty that once made her love Jamie and then made her furious with them.