Page 123 of Memories By the Shore
“You love Arizona,” Riley states matter-of-factly. “On your first anniversary, one year after my brother married you guys.” He pauses, sipping his light beer. “You said the one regret you had was not fighting harder.”
I’m flooded with a brief memory of the day I drove over to Helen’s looking for Avery when I found out she was gone. Easton had spoken to her the night before. He thought he was being a good friend by coming to the beach house to tell me she was leaving—and he was. But the moment he handed me my mother’s ring back, I knew it was over. Avery had chosen, and there was nothing I could do to change her mind.
“Here’s your fucking chance, you chickenshit,” Bodhi snaps, waving the server back over to our table. “I’m starving.”
“You guys are not making this situation any better,” I say, although my friends are right.
We order an unnecessary number of appetizers and take turns talking about our jobs before the conversation comes back to Avery and me.
“I heard about the run-in you had with Melanie and Avery,” Easton mentions with a snug look.
Bodhi takes a bite from his poke bowl. “When did this happen?”
“When she was here a couple of weeks ago. We all sort of ran into each other at Marv’s,” I say.
Easton chuckles. “You mean when you followed her and Helen to dinner?”
Riley clenches his jaw, smirking. “Why am I not surprised?”
“You three are starting to piss me off with all this shit-talking,” I threaten, tossing my napkin on the table.
“Good,” Bodhi quips. “Get your fucking girl.”
“Don’t you think I would have done it already if it were that easy?” I retort. “I can’t force her to be with me.”
“Look, I hear you.” Riley’s arm extends across the table. “But you’ve dated off and on for years, and no one has come close to Avery.”
“She’s the only one we liked too,” Eason adds.
Bodhi rubs his jaw, his eyes facing upward. “I liked Melanie.”
“No, you didn’t,” I correct him.
He shrugs his shoulders. “She was hot.”
Easton nods his head in agreement. “Yeah, you could be with her. Who knows. She could be the next future Mrs. Collins.”
“Mrs.Mayor Collins,” Riley jokes.
The thought of any other woman having my last name makes me feel sick. It was Avery’s first, even though she never formally changed hers.
“Absolutely not,” I say, swirling the spherical ice around in my old-fashioned.
“Why not?” Bodhi presses.
Annoyed once again, I huff in frustration. “Because she’s not Avery!”
Fuck.They’re right. There will be something wrong with every woman I try to be with—none of them will ever be Avery. I will continue to find reasons why they aren’t for me, listing all their imperfections.
I was clear with my intentions that day in my kitchen. Was it enough? Does she need me to make up for my absence that day in the hospital? I don’t know. But what I’ve done until this point has not allowed me to move on. And with what happened between us when she was here, is there any indication about where her heart is? That should be my answer.
I swam the last of the whiskey from my glass and slam it onto the table. “I’m going to go to Arizona.”
“Are you goingtoArizona, or are you going togetArizona?”
My eyes narrow. “Get. I’m going to get her.”
“Finally,” Easton comments, wiping a hand down his face.
