"She didn't answer," Nolan said, only making my already beating wildly heart, thump harder."Fuck!" I said, running my fingers through my hair, and tried Madeline again. "Come on, Maddie," I said, lowering my voice. "Answer your phone, baby.""Why?" Nolan asked; then his eyes went wide as he watched me pace with the phone at my ear. "You think maybe . . .""Check that local news group on Facebook," Xavier suggested, and Nolan got right on it.I walked over to Nolan because at this point I wasn't sure what to do with myself. I wouldn't be able to concentrate now on anything until I heard from Madeline. "Did they say anything else about the accident, Dad?" I asked as Nolan scrolled through his screen."No, Hijo. The guy just said he heard it was a bad accident.""Here it is," Nolan said, and everyone's attention was on him now.He skimmed quickly, reading out loud through the post about it, skipping over everything that didn't give us any facts."A single-car accident involving a
What we knew about the accident at the very beginning was that somehow Madeline lost control of the car and it flew off the side of the embankment. They'd had the car's convertible top down, and all three were ejected from the car as it rolled over several times. It'd been confirmed the fourth person hadn't been a passenger in the car with them, so I knew, if there was the slightest hope the newscaster had it wrong and Madeline hadn't already been gone, she would be soon.Then I got the call from Loretta that confirmed my worst nightmare. My peanut was gone. She and Shelby had been pronounced dead at the scene while Maggie had been flown to the trauma center in Livingston. Only time anyone was transported there was when their injuries were as critical as Maggie's apparently were.I fell apart all over again, just as I did every time I woke from my drug-induced slumber—the only slumber I could get during those first agonizing days and weeks that followed her death.I knew I had a fam
The only reason I didn't shake my head adamantly and argue was because this was my father. He should've been part of the reason why I needed to move on. "It's okay to grieve, Hijo. You should. Take all the time you need. I lost your mama and felt those deep, deep feelings of despair too, but I won't sit here and say I know what you're going through. This is your grief. No two people are the same, and so no two people will grieve the same way. It may take you months, years, to heal. All I can promise you is, in the end, it will happen. Trust me. I know." He took a deep breath and sat back. "When your mama passed, I, too, had moments of feeling like I just wanted to die. Mind you I had four little boys who were counting on me to be there for them and those thoughts still crossed my mind. Don't let those feelings make you feel weak. They're perfectly normal. Accept them; just please don't act on them. They will pass, and little by little the memories will be what you'll live for." He hugg
The first anniversary of the accident came and went and was as hard as I thought it might be, despite my efforts to ignore the inevitable headlines about it. The candlelight vigil Shelby's mom held at the side of the river where the girls lost their lives was all over the local television and radio channels. Just like when they first died, many of their friends and work acquaintances were once again interviewed about their relationships with the girls.Everyone was still at a loss as to why neither Loretta nor Maggie had bothered to contact anyone. They both had co-workers and even close friends I thought they would've at least checked in with. Nolan had tried in vain for months to track Maggie down. All I could think was maybe her injuries were so physically devastating Loretta might be too consumed with Maggie's rehabilitation to think about anything else. In spite of my suspicions that, just like Loretta had known all along about Madeline and me, she also knew about Maggie and Nola
Dr. Windward continued to jot something down on her tablet before looking up at me. "When she touches her heart and then yours, what do you think that means?"I frowned because I hated when she turned shit around on me. I was there for her to explain this to me. With a shrug, I shook my head. "I don't know. Something about our hearts being one maybe? Or that I still own her heart the way she'll forever own mine?"She nodded but gave no indication of whether she agreed with my interpretation or not. "The day of the incident in your backyard, it was your heart that ached. You said it did as much as the day she passed.""Not just the day but the days, weeks, and months that passed," I explained, feeling a little annoyed. "It'd only just begun to numb, and then that happened. It was like a reminder that the pain would forever be there, and that's when the new dreams began.""Do you think maybe you're feeling a little guilty that the pain is beginning to lessen?"I shook my head. "I've
As the years slowly moved on, we settled into our new lives and began enjoying the success of our businesses in Radcliffe. I continued to experience moments like the one with the song in the backyard back in Huntsville. They were sporadic, but every time I thought I'd had my last, it'd happen again. Certain things seemed to set them off, only there wasn't much rhyme or reason other than they'd happen whenever something inadvertently awakened a vivid memory of Madeline.I was nowhere near ready to consider diving into any type of serious relationship even several years after her death, but I had hooked up a few times. The first time I tried I'd had a few beers in me, and at first, I felt fine. Kissing someone else's lips still felt wrong, but I reasoned it'd been long enough and it was part of moving on. Then halfway through as the making out got heavier, I had visuals of Madeline and the giddy way she'd greet me every time I picked her up. That alone was enough to nearly stop my heart
Turned out it was possible to make a "meatball" out of chickpeas and a whole bunch of other spices feel and taste like meat if you drowned it in enough marinara sauce and cheese. While I was open to trying more of her meatless dishes, there was no way I was giving up my carne asada and pastrami cheeseburgers.I knew my family would be happy about this turn of events. I started seeing Tara on a regular basis and never even sought out another therapist. It seemed pointless. Tara was more than open to talking about my feelings and even the occasional dreams I'd feel up to sharing with her now that we were a thing. What I hadn't shared with her, even though I knew she was a therapist and if anyone might understand this it'd be her, was I'd begun to feel Madeline's presence.If I go before you, I will haunt you until the day we're back together.It was crazy and I knew it, but a part of me couldn't help feeling like if anyone would keep good on her word, it'd be my spunky peanut. While a
I couldn't take my eyes off of her, and I was still having a hard time breathing even as she reached me. "Maggie?"She nodded but continued to stare at me, looking as staggered as I felt but also a bit lost. I glanced at her friend, who stared at me in the same way Maggie did, like she was wondering who I was. I turned to meet Maggie's eyes again then pointed at myself. "Nicolas." As unlikely as it seemed, it had been seven years, so I had to ask. "You don't remember me?"She shook her head. "I never regained my memory after the accident."Hearing her voice nearly brought me to my knees. I'd forgotten how exactly alike Madeline and her sister sounded. She explained more about having lost all memory from before the accident then apologized for not remembering me.Completely lost in those eyes, I explained who I was—Madeline's boyfriend. She seemed even more staggered by that, and at this point, I could not take my eyes off her. It was like I was seeing a ghost. My beautiful Madeline