“Yes.”
She held his stare for a beat. “No one deserves death.”
“But death happens regardless,” he countered. “It’s coming for all of us.” Rhys knew that lesson. He’d seen death rip apart Katherine until all the good in her was gone, replaced by anger that her life was cut short. So many dreams unmet. So many needs and wants unfulfilled. He brushed Zoey’s hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear. “You can let this consume you, or you can realize that none of this is in your control. Not what Scott and Jake did to you. Not their responses to it.” He had never crossed the line he was about to cross, but he crossed it easily now. “I’d like to show you something. Will you come somewhere with me?”
Her eyes searched his. He swore she nearly said, “I’ll go anywhere with you.” Instead, she said, “Okay, yeah.”
They wasted no time getting in his car, and they stayed silent on the long drive back into Manhattan, through morning traffic. When he pulled into the cemetery, he caught the moment when Zoey went statue-still. He drove up the hill and around the slight corner before he pulled over beside Katherine’s grave then got out. Zoey followed him, stopping next to him, as he stared down at her gravestone.
He hoped what he said next would have an impact. Helped even a little. “I loved Katherine. Loved her more than I thought I could love anyone. She was everything I wanted in a woman. She was caring, fun, and had such a zest for life.” His throat tightened, but he breathed deeply again, pushing back the emotion to get through this. “Until her cancer diagnosis.” Zoey’s warm fingers tangled with his, her other hand wrapping around his forearm, as he continued, “I never would have believed what happened after that. The way Katherine changed.”
“Changed, how?” Zoey asked gently.
Rhys kept his focus on the tombstone. It had a slight
purple tone, Katherine’s favorite color. “You always see inspirational stories about cancer. The way a person fights so bravely for their life. Katherine tried to fight for a while, but the cancer was aggressive. Chemo couldn’t even touch it. She got so sick.”
“I’m so sorry, Rhys,” Zoey said, tears in her voice.
He couldn’t look her way, couldn’t get through this if he did. “The plan had been to do surgery once the tumors shrunk, but the chemo wasn’t shrinking the tumors. They were getting bigger.” His throat tightened. His breathing became hard. He shut his eyes, relieving the look of rage that had crossed Katherine’s face. “The day the doctor told Katherine there was nothing they could do for her, she changed. The light in her went out.”
“She gave up?”
Rhys gave Zoey a quick look, finding warm compassion staring back at him. “Not only gave up, but anger stole the Katherine I knew and loved. She couldn’t see the good in anything. She lived for another two months, and she became a shell of the woman she was. She wouldn’t come outside. She wouldn’t talk to any of her friends. She sat in a dark room and stayed there.”
Zoey squeezed his fingers. “That must have been hard to watch.”
Rhys nodded, exhaled deeply, and looked at the tombstone. “I couldn’t reach her. I couldn’t help her. I could do nothing to save her. But worst of all, I couldn’t find my way back to her. When she died, she screamed in a way that will forever haunt me. There was no peace, no love, only rage.” He glanced sideways at Zoey. “I know what you’ve gone through is horrible. Inconceivable. But don’t do what Katherine did. Don’t let something consume you until all that you are, all that makes you, you, is gone. Promise me that.”
He wasn’t sure what showed on his face, but she quickly threw her arms around him, holding him tight. “I promise, Rhys,” she whispered. “I promise.”
* * *
“You’ll call me if you need me?” Rhys asked, standing at Zoey’s front door after they returned from the cemetery.
She was still processing everything he had told her. But the one thing that stayed with her was that Rhys made a whole lot of sense to her now. He’d seen someone die before their death. That had to change a person on every level. More importantly, Rhys was no longer a fantasy. Not anymore. The only thing she saw, even now, staring into the strength of his eyes, was a man to adore. A man she didn’t want to walk away from. “I’ll call, I promise,” she said.
She expected him to kiss her. He surprised her by gathering her in his arms, holding her tight, and dropping a firm kiss onto her forehead, the most tender thing he’d done yet. She knew by the locking of his arms that he didn’t want to let go. Part of her didn’t want him to either.
When he finally leaned away, a pillar of strength, as always, he said, “No matter the time, I’m here for you. All right?”
She gave a small smile, hoping he saw the honest gratitude at his sharing his story with her, something obviously incredibly painful. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”
He simply nodded and released her, although she could see it pained him to do so. As he headed back to his car, she watched him. Fate was a funny thing. Without Katherine’s death, Phoenix never would have happened. Without the assault, she wouldn’t have met Rhys. Without a doubt, both of their trauma and pain shaped them. She couldn’t help but wonder if all this was meant to be, and that made her head hurt more.
“He went home?”
Zoey glanced over her shoulder to find Hazel and Elise standing in the doorway, doing a not-so-great job at hiding. “Yeah,” Zoey said, turning around to face them. “I thought it was a good idea to have some time alone to process all that’s happened.”
“You want to be alone?” Hazel said, solemnly.
“Not alone, alone.” They moved out of the way, and Zoey stepped inside, sliding her arm through Hazel’s. “But more like, alone with you, the two greatest friends a girl could ask for.”
“Okay, phew.” Hazel smiled a little, giving Zoey’s arm a tug and leading her down the hallway. Once inside her bedroom, Zoey climbed in the middle of her queen-size platform bed while Hazel and Elise sank in on either side, the mattress bouncing beneath them. Boxes filled the room, no evidence that Zoey loved her life with Elise and Hazel. The flower-patterned duvet was crumpled from the night before, a reminder of the hurry in which Zoey had gotten out of bed after Elise told her what happened to Scott.
Silence settled in, a comfortable one. She could feel their curious stares on her and figured she’d answer the unsaid questions. “You’re wondering what I’m thinking, right?”
Hazel’s soft voice drifted over to her as she patted Zoey’s arm. “We don’t want to push you. Share if you want to, but we can also just cuddle. You know how I love to cuddle.”