When Sylvie squirmed and pulled away, Amy let her. She followed her daughter into the living room, and the two of them sat down on the same couch.
Sylvie exhaled. “How can you stand not knowing?”
Amy hesitated, feeling like someone had reached inside her chest and twisted. “Because I don’t think it’s going to change anything. At least, not as far as I’m concerned.”
Nor did she want to carry that burden around.
Not knowing about Eric’s extracurricular activities was one thing, but deliberately withholding evidence for the sake of her own freedom was another, and Amy didn’t want to be that kind of person. She wanted her fresh start, desperately, but not at the expense of her silence.
Sylvie leaned sideways and tucked herself into her mother’s side while Amy played with her hair.
By the time the doorbell rang a short while later, Sylvie was drifting off again.
Amy stood to open the door, and Lucas’s eyes were tight around the edges with dark circles. He didn’t say much and wouldn’t hold Amy’s gaze as his eyes searched the living room. Once they laid eyes on each other, Sylvie threw off the blanket and stumbled over to him. Lucas pulled her to him, and his shoulders sagged.
Amy turned away so they wouldn’t see the tears in her eyes.
It was a hard enough moment without the need for them to worry about her.
Even though Sylvie had insisted on spending the whole night on the couch, Amy was glad she hadn’t left her side. Even Ashley had sat with them for a bit on her way inside from the garden. Hours later, Amy still had no idea how Sylvie was going to handle everything.
She waited until she was composed enough to turn back around. Then, she wheeled around and greeted her son with a quick hug. Side by side, her children sat, joking and teasing each other while she made a breakfast of scrambled eggs and blueberry pancakes. The three of them lingered and talked about anything they could think of. When Sylvie insisted on washing the dishes while Lucas dried them, another wave of emotion rose up within Amy.
At least the whole mess between her and Eric hadn’t come between her children. If anything, they seemed to be rallying around each other in a way that made Amy’s chest tighten, and her eyes well with tears.
Maybe it wasn’t all going to be bad.
Maybe they wouldn’t hate her after all.
She couldn’t remember the last time they’d spent the morning together, doing nothing in particular and lingering over a home-cooked meal.
It made a lump rise in her throat and her stomach clench.
All too soon, Lucas and Sylvie were in the doorway, and she was sandwiched between them. She stood on the steps of the front porch, waving until her hand hurt and her lower lip trembled. As soon as Sylvie’s car turned into a speck in the distance, Amy’s heart grew heavy. She went back into her room to change into a pair of wide pants and a tunic. Then, she waved at Ashely on her way out. Amy set off at a brisk pace, pausing to check her phone for directions to the community college to start her new course.
It was nestled in the center of Falmouth, with several small brick buildings, a wrought iron gate out front, and a few gargoyle statues that loomed over the students. Amy was staring at the columns on either side of a large archway when someone bumped into her, sending her book and notebook sprawling onto the ground.
She bent down to pick them up, and when their hands touched, a jolt went through Amy. Startled, Amy dropped the book again, and William bent down to pick it up. He straightened his back and handed it to her with an easy smile. It was then she noticed two things at once.
The first was William held the same intro to creative writing book.
And the second was how good he looked in a pair of dark jeans and a button-down flannel shirt.
“It was the gargoyles, wasn’t it?”
Amy blinked and ignored the flutter in the center of her chest. “What?”
“I almost fell over when I saw them,” William confided in a low voice. “They’re a little unnerving, aren’t they?”
Amy smiled. “I think whoever added them had a weird sense of humor.”
“Definitely,” William agreed a little too quickly. “Unless they wanted to chase superstitious students off.”
Amy shrugged, her heart missing a beat when William fell into step beside her. “That’s a lot of effort to go just to weed out the superstitious.”
“Stranger things have definitely happened,” William pointed out with a quick smile. “Can I carry your books for you?”
“It’s just the one book and my notebook,” Amy protested, color creeping up her neck and cheeks. “I can manage.”
