Carter shrugs, choosing not to answer as he shifts his focus back to me. “Are you okay, Clara?”
“Yes.” I nod slowly. It all unraveled so fast, I could barely register the details that now begin to slowly sink in.
“Good. We’re going to go then, give you some room. I’m guessing Matty will be taking a longer nap today,” he says.
Damon and Jace head out first.
Carter moves past me, then stops, giving me a sideways glance. “This isn’t over, Clara. Not by a long shot.”
“Maybe. But for today, it is,” I boldly reply.
“We’ll be in touch,” Damon says.
I wait until I hear the front door close behind them before I’m able to breathe again. I shudder and blink back tears as an avalanche of emotions washes over me. That was too much for me to handle at once—the memories, the things left unspoken, the regrets.
Their truck’s engine fades into the mountain silence.
Then I slide down the wall, knees to chest.
Five years of running—undone in five minutes.
Carter always was too damn perceptive.
3
CARTER
“Carter,” Damon calls.
I ignore him, choosing to make my way down the stony path leading back to the road. The farther I get away from Stephan’s cabin, the less it hurts.
“Carter!”
“What?” I snap, stopping to turn and face him and Jace. “What is it?”
“We know that wasn’t easy,” Damon says, “but we had to stop it there.”
I point back at the cabin, the anger taking over again. It’s a miracle I was able to hold back until now. “She disappeared, Damon. Her brother killed himself, and she disappeared. Almost five years later, she shows up with a kid and treats us like we’re the fucking enemy.”
“She’s obviously going through something,” Jace sighs deeply.
“I don’t fucking care.”
“Yes, you do,” he retorts. “It’s why you walked out just now, to give her space, because you care. And yes, you’re angry. We all are. But we’re also adults.”
“Thank you for the reminder,” I scoff and run a hand through my hair. “I thought she was gone for good, that we’d never see her again. Any hope that I’d be able to forget her was dashed.”
Damon exhales sharply. “Clara isn’t an easy woman to forget, that much is obvious. And the kid, Carter?—”
“I’m aware.”
“She’s been in Portland this whole time, building a life,” Jace mutters.
“We don’t have the details yet,” Damon points out. “We can’t make assumptions or guesses about what she’s been doing. What matters is that we just gave her a chance to stick around, at least for a while. It’s better than nothing.”
“She just up and left and I’m not supposed to ask why?” I argue.
“Clara always had a strong will, Carter. It’s one of the things we liked about her the most,” Damon reminds me.
