“Can’t find out that you shot someone and let your best friend go down for it? I went to prison, I took the fall, but more than that...you never once came to see me. Not once. We were best friends; we were the kind of close you could only pray for. You left me, Davina. Now I’m not leaving until you explain why.”
She frantically looks from side to side, and then her shoulders slump a little bit. “Ten minutes, I only have ten minutes.”
Ten. That’s all she can offer me.
Ten.
I’ll take it.
“This isn’t the life I thought you’d go on to live,” I say, staring behind her into the perfect home.
“It isn’t the life I thought I’d live either,” she tells me, her eyes darting again, “but after what happened, I knew something had to change. I cleaned myself, got a job and then I met my husband.”
That hurts.
It hurts more than I could have ever imagined.
“So, you took the experience and turned it into something beautiful,” I whisper. “At any point during that, did you even think of the friend you left to rot?”
Her eyes flash with guilt. “What happened that night...it was the breaking point for me. I couldn’t...I just...I knew I had to make a change and I did. If I had gone back, if I had told them what I did, I wouldn’t be where I am.”
I laugh, bitterly. “So you were comfortable letting me suffer, while you made the most out of the situation?”
“It wasn’t like that, Willa.”
“Then what was it like? Please, explain it to me.”
“You’re angry at me, I don’t expect that to change. I don’t want your forgiveness. I just want you to know that I am sorry. I shouldn’t have left you there, but I was drowning. I had to swim and to do that, I had to leave you behind.”
“I was drowning, too,” I whisper, “but our friendship mattered to me, so I took the fall for what you did. Because I was so sure you’d be there for me, so sure you’d wait and you’d come and visit and when it was over, you’d be right there outside the prison waiting for me. You couldn’t even come in and explain yourself.”
Her head drops and she takes a deep, shaky breath before looking back up. Her eyes flicker to Lake, scanning him for a moment before looking back to me. “I made a choice. Was it the right one? Probably not. But it saved me, Willa. I needed to be saved.”
“So did I,” I yell. “I missed out on a big portion of my life because of you. You don’t think I would have liked a chance to make my life right? To live the kind of luxury you’re living? You don’t think I deserved that chance, too?”
“Of course you did. You do. You can go out and you can find your happiness.”
I laugh, bitterly. “We were basically sisters. Do you have any idea what you’ve done to me?”
She swallows. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“Your sorry doesn’t mean shit. I just wanted to come and see you, to know why you left me and now I know. Our friendship meant nothing to you. Not a damned thing.”
“It meant everything to me,” she cries, throwing her hands up, “everything.”
I shake my head. “No, it didn’t. It meant everything to me, which is why I did what I did. You ran. You’re a coward.”
“Willa...”
“I’m done here,” I say to Lake. “I’ve got my answers.”
“Willa, please...”
I face her, one last time. “Go back to your life, Davina. Enjoy it. But remember where you came from, and I hope you live the rest of your days with the guilt of what you did. You’re right, I do have my chance to move on now. I’m free. You, on the other hand, you’ll never be truly free.”
With that, I turn and walk away.
She doesn’t say another word.
Neither do I.
I have my answers.
My closure.
Now...now it’s time for me to move on.
“YOU GOOD?” LAKE ASKS, sliding a beer towards me.
I sit across from him at a booth in town. We came to Wildflowers when we returned home, because I needed a drink and didn’t feel like going back to the ranch to face everyone else just yet. I need time to process what just happened. I feel a little numb, the depths of my chest almost empty.
“She took what happened and made a life for herself,” I say, shaking my head, as if it’s just not real.
“You were right, though. She might have the perfect life, but she has to live with what she’s done. You might have gone down for it, but you’re free now, Willa. She’ll never have that kind of relief.”
He’s right. I know he’s right.
It doesn’t shake the broken feeling inside me.
Because she took the chance we were both given to turn things around, and she left me in the dust and made sure she was going to come out on top.