When Zack walked in the house, a few minutes later, Bree left. She told him she had errands to run, but the truth was, she was so angry, she didn’t want to be around him.
She drove and drove, that afternoon, with no particular destination. When hours later she was still just as angry as she’d been when she left, she considered not going back to the house at all. In the end, she changed her mind, knowing she’d ultimately regret it if she didn’t see him before he left.
When she came home, Zack was as angry as she was. They fought about the deployment.
“How can you not understand?” he shouted at her that night. He accused her of being selfish, and then he walked out.
Sometime in the middle of the night, she heard him come back in, but he didn’t come into the bedroom; he slept on the couch. When she got up the next morning, his bags were packed and he was standing by the front door. Bree walked into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee, and when she came back, he was gone.
“That was the last time I saw him.”
“Get rid of them.”
“What?”
“The letters and the journals. Especially the journals. Don’t read another word.”
“Why?”
“As I said at the start of this conversation, there isn’t anything that will bring him back. In fact, reading words that weren’t meant for you, is doing the opposite. It’s pushing him farther away. Let your memories be, Bree. Let the rest of it go. No good will come of you knowing what else there is in those journals.”
“What do you think I’m going to find?”
“Who sent you the box?”
“I already told you, I don’t know.”
“There must have been a reason whoever it was didn’t want you to know.”
The waiter came back to the table and asked if they were ready to order. “Go ahead,” she told Red.
He ordered for them both before he excused himself from the table.
Was he right? Should she just let it all go? Reading as much as she had certainly hadn’t helped her either mourn him, or let go of him. It only reminded her that things between them were far more strained than she remembered.
Red sat back down at the table. “Ready?” he asked.
“For what?”
“Let’s talk about Jace.”
“Must we?” How much more of an emotional wringer did Red intend to put her through?
“Oh, absolutely. That’s what I really want to talk about.”
“Why?”
“You need to see what everyone else does.”
“And that is?”
“Jace Rice loves you, heart and soul,” he paused when Bree started shaking her head. “And what’s more, you feel the same way about him.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Hear me out.”
Bree sat back in