Page 4 of The Way Home
No actual ghosts, as far as I knew, but the source of my strongest memories, both good and bad. Strange how you could love and hate a place equally, but I did. My grip on the steering wheel tightened. “Pull it together, Riley.”
Perhaps my mom was onto something when she suggested I take a break. I'd been on edge for a while. Probably for a long time if I was being honest. At twenty-six, my life wasn't where I thought it would be.
The guidance counselors back in high school made it sound so easy. Go to college, get a degree, start your career, and settle down with a family. But hey… two out of four wasn't bad, right?Wrong. Fifty-percent was an F, no matter how the paper was graded.
Here I was with a degree that didn't translate well into work in the real world. I would have thought being a chemist would haveopened a lot of doors, but so far I've been temping more than anything. And my love life? What a joke.
My inability to commit made settling down practically impossible. The problem I found with every guy I'd dated was simply that they weren'thim. It wasn't even their fault, well… sometimes it was their fault, because I hadn’t always been great at picking people, but mostly they lived in the shadow of someone. My body never forgot his, and my heart was held captive by the boy I once loved.Stillloved.
Sigh. It wasn't Jeremy's fault either, but it sure as fuck felt easier to blame him.
As I turned onto the road that wound around Pathfinders Lake, the sun glistening off the still blue water, I felt my eyes grow hot with tears. I swiped at my eyes and muttered, “Fucking sunlight.”
Houses along the lake were few and far between, offering privacy and quiet, one of the biggest draws to the area. Developers had tried and failed to buy up land from the owners, cutting their property in half, but each family fought against it, including ours. The Rodriguez cabin had been in their family for two generations. It might not be the biggest place, but the land it was on made it invaluable, even being set further back and having an obstructed view of the lake.
A sign with a circled R appeared, indicating the driveway which led to our cabin. As soon as I pulled off the road, I was hit with a memory as clear as the lake's water. It slammed into my chest so hard, I had to stop the rental car and close my eyes.
I was nervous, but not as nervous as my mom seemed to be. It seemed quick, but who was I to question, not when I'd met and fallen in love with a beautiful boy who made me feel like I was worth loving.
“Listen, Ri, I really like him. Well, it's more than that, honestly. Javi makes me feel alive again. This wasn't somethingI was looking for or expecting, but it's happened, and we're here now.”
“I'm not going to get in the way, Mom, as long as he treats you right.”
“He does. He treats me like a queen. Nothing like your father. Shit, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that.” She sucked on her teeth.
“It's okay, Mom. I know Dad was an asshole.” The walls of our house had been thin enough to hear every argument they had.
She shot me a look, silently telling me to watch my language. I shrugged in response. “It's true.”
“That's beside the point. Just promise me you'll be nice. Javi has a kid about your age, too, maybe the two of you will get along.”
“Maybe. I'll try.”
“That's all I ask. Thank you, Ri.” My mom patted my leg.
I wanted to support her, wanted her to be happy, but I canceled a date with Jeremy to meet the man she'd been seeing. It had only been two months since we first met, but I was addicted to him already. I could still feel the weight of his body on mine, pressing me into his mattress.
Okay, I needed my mind anywhere else. I did not want to get hard while in the car with my mom. When I sat up and realized where we were, my eyes went wide as I noticed familiar landmarks.
“Where are we going?”
“To Javi’s house,” my mom replied with exasperation.
“Where is his house exactly?” My heart squeezed even tighter as we made a turn off the road.
“Javier owns a cabin. He lives there with his son. I know it’s off the beaten path a little, but don’t worry, he’s really nice, I swear.”
“No. It’s not that.” I shook my head in disbelief. It couldn’t be. There was no way.
She drove up the long driveway, a driveway I’d been on several times now. It had always been when his dad wasn’t home, so I’d never met him.
“What is it? Are you worried about meeting his son?”
I shook my head, staring in disbelief as we approached the old cabin. There were five steps leading up to the front door. I knew that already, because he’d surprised me with a bj right on those steps. I’d been terrified of getting caught, but there was literally nobody around.
“His name’s Jeremy. Javi said he just got selected for the varsity football team at school. It might be good to know one of the team, maybe he can even help you get acclimated at school.”
I felt the blood drain from my face when he walked out onto the porch with his dad. No. No. No. This couldn’t be happening.
