“Are you sure you want to continue?” I laughed through the tears. “I mean, it can’t hurt any worse than it does, right?” “I think we need Jason and more liquor, though.” Leaning my head back, I closed my eyes. Fuck, when was the last time I cried like this? College maybe? No, before that. High school after my dad told us that he didn’t care that Adrian and I didn’t approve of Claudia. He had married her already and so she was our mother whether or not we liked it. “Adrian was with him, so I guess we get double trouble. But that means double the liquor.” I sighed. “I didn’t tell Adrian yet. He kept asking questions but I didn’t say.” “It’s fine. I’m sure Jason already spilled the beans. He sounded drunk already.” “Great. Now, I’m never going to hear the end of this.” Stacy laughed. “What? Them catching us sitting on the floor of your office, looking like a mess because we just cried through those photos and that was the smaller of the four folders? Yeah. No doubt. How old are we
The last two videos were of the last day in Vegas, apparently. One I had set up her phone against the car I had rented, the same convertible that she was standing in with the photo I had taken of her. The sun was dipping low and she was leaning against the railing somewhere out further in the desert to where you could see the lights of Vegas far off in the background. “You know, these past few days have showed me there are still parts of Vegas that aren’t the gross seedy underbelly of the strip.” She turned back and smiled, a smile that threw my heart for a loop. I walked back in to the frame and I took her hands. “I can’t lose you, Evie. I feel like the moment I let you go, you will disappear out of my life and I can’t let that happen. No matter what my parents think or what the world thinks. I need you by my side. My grandfather taught me more than I will ever be able to thank him for, but he also warned me that there might be a time my soul would find its match. He told me to do
We spent another two hours going through photos and videos of Greece. I started to recognize more places. The last few of my memories that I had slowly recovered over the past few weeks had the setting correctly backdropped. Some of the photos I knew were direct from the memories I had already recalled. Everyone was in tears after seeing the seventy or so photos that I had apparently taken. Evie’s photos and videos were more candid, but there were fewer of them than there were at Vegas. We sat in silence, finishing our drinks as I closed the laptop. Leaning my head back, I closed my eyes. Stacy was right about one thing. After looking at these, even if I never got my memories back, this fundamentally changed me. The path going forward for my life was now altered. I could never go back. Not after seeing these. Knowing what I had and what I lost, I never wanted to love again. Everything would pale. Even Adrian was struggling with the concept of it. I knew I would never love Jennifer.
***Evelyn POV*** I don’t know how I got here. When I got out of the cab at the hotel, I numbly made my way to my room and face planted on my bed. I slept for hours. I got a couple worried voicemails from both Mike and Jacob. When I woke up mid-afternoon the next day, I quickly lied through my teeth and said I was fine. It wasn’t fine. None of it was fine. It was all fucked up and I could barely function. Managing to check my email, I did at least read over the document the lawyer sent me. I made a few adjustments; adding Elliot’s name to the trust fund so I wouldn’t need to go through the hassle of it later but made sure the last name said Harris, not Anderson. He also said Zach had asked for photos of the time we were together. It seemed weird when we were literally finalizing our divorce. I wanted to say no. Those photos now were the only proof I carried of what we had together. The only thing that now kept me sane and proved that our time together wasn’t a dream. Other than Ellio
Leaning over, he put his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath through his guffawing. “M*****a chica, te llevaré a donde quieras ir.” [Damn girl, I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.] I felt strong hands on my shoulders and Zach pulled me back. The smirk he was wearing earlier was gone. Clear irritation was written all over his face. The chef straightened up and looked at him for a moment before chuckling. “A couple specials, coming up! I can’t make a beautiful woman pay, though. It’s on the house.” He turned and walked into the small space. Making quick work, he moved nimbly around the kitchen. It was surprising between the size of the space and the size of him, but he whipped up two orders of tacos and came back over, handing them to us. Zach reached over me and grabbed the two containers from him. “Oh shit! Let me get…” He turned in to the truck and opened a mini fridge in the corner. “Mamá just made a new batch today.” Pouring out two drinks, I took them from him an
The area started to thin out around 4:30 a.m. and after grabbing some dessert at one of the other trucks, Zach started to walk me back to the hotel. I had refused a ride, but he also refused to allow me to walk back alone. We walked close, but his hands were tucked into his pockets again. My phone vibrated in my pocket and I looked at the caller ID. Stopping, I answered. “Jacob?” “Hey! I’m sorry! I know it’s like 4 a.m., but Elliot woke up and he has been crying because he had a bad dream, and I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.” “Okay, okay. Calm down, for one. It’s just a bad dream, not the end of the world.” I stopped walking and ran my hand through my hair. Zach stopped as well, curiosity coming across his features. “Is Anne awake?” “Yeah, she is holding him, but he’s still crying.” I wrinkled my nose. “Did he say anything specific about it? About the dream?” “It was dark and that he was alone and scared.” I cursed. It had been months since he had that dream. Shit. I leane
People pushed me around as I walked down the street. Quite a few of them turned to cuss me out, but I didn’t hear them. The tears kept falling and I couldn’t stop them. The numbness had seeped in and felt it restricting my breathing. I didn’t even know where I was walking anymore. I just started to walk as soon as I made it out of the office building, and I couldn’t stop. I feared if I stopped then I would break. I hit a street corner and I looked around. The street to my left was closed down for a street faire and I turned to walk down the middle of the road with the stream of people. There were vendors and stalls selling food and goods. There were also games and kids activities. I wondered with all the kids running around if school was out, but it was after 4 p.m. and so I figured everyone was just off school for the day. Looking around, I stopped at a couple of the stalls and picked out two gifts for Elliot. I thanked the vendor and walked through the crowd. I stopped at a guy who
***Zachary’s POV*** There was banging at the door again. How many times was this? It was pissing me off. I didn’t want anyone in the apartment. Hence the lock on the door. Not enough, well now the couch was thrown in front of the door. I moved out to the balcony with a pack of cigarettes and sat down on the only non-broken or thrown piece of furniture. Lighting the cigarette, I leaned back in the chair and closed my eyes. Taking another drag, I peeked over my shoulder as I heard the couch scraping across the floor. I wondered how many people were pushing the door open to get that thing to move. Honestly, it was heavy as fuck, but it was the first thing I trashed when I got home after I spent time with Evie. After I found out I had a son. She named him after my grandfather and I knew that wasn’t a coincidence. There was no way. After the heated bout with my parents over whether or not I intended on keeping the agreement with the Sinclair’s, I told them I would be putting everything on