“You left. I lost you after the funeral, and you never came back. You’ve been going out all the time, doing things with anyone but me. I’m not an idiot. Why?”
Jo sat silent, trying to find the words.
“My whole world shifted that day.”
Dom nodded but stayed quiet, giving her space.
“I couldn’t just go back to the way things had been, because nothing felt the way it did before. I felt this urgency to do all the things I’d been putting off doing before it’s too late. I had to fill every hour with something so that empty feeling didn’t creep back in. And I got angry that you weren’t on board. Do you know what I learned, in my manic ‘doing’?”
“Tell me.”
“I don’t actually like doing a lot of those things without you. I want this retirement with you. But I was afraid if I stopped for even a second, I’d get swamped again. And if I went back to my old life, it would feel like giving up. On Gabe, on me, on us…” She trailed off, choking up.
Dom opened his arms, and she shifted into his embrace. He’d missed this. The warmth, the comfort, the balm to his soul when he held her in his arms. He fought tears of relief.
“I missed you,” she whispered against his neck.
“I missed you too.”
“Things aren’t okay yet.”
“No, we have some work to do, but we’ll get there. I have faith in us, Jo.”
42 years ago
Jo sat on a bench on the quad, letting the sun warm her face, contentment making her sleepy. She would be graduating with her teaching degree in a few short weeks. She’d just wrapped up her last final, and she had a job offer in hand from a nearby school district. She wouldn’t be moving away after all, and she couldn’t wait to tell Dom. As usual, he was late.
They had a date to meet on the bench for a picnic, and though her stomach grumbled its annoyance, she smiled and sat back to wait.
Life was good. Jo would be the first person from her family to graduate from college. She’d worked damn hard to make that happen. She’d earned this moment to bask in the glow of her achievements.
It felt good to be a little lazy today. Maybe she’d convince Dom to drive over to Santa Cruz this weekend. A quick day on the beach where he’d told her he loved her sounded like the perfect way to celebrate the start of this next chapter.
Or maybe they could go apartment hunting. She knew her parents weren’t super keen on the idea of her moving in with him before marriage, but it felt right. She wanted to start this next part of her life with him by her side. And it wasn’t like they needed to live apart before they got married, if they got married. The virginity ship had sailed, and bon voyage! She was not going back to living under her parents’ roof, that was for damn sure.
She’d suggest the house hunting when he showed up. If he showed up. She checked her watch. He was already fifteen minutes late. Had he forgotten their lunch date? No, he must’ve gotten hung up on a job site. He’d been putting in a bunch of overtime hours as the summer construction season ramped up.
Jo scanned the quad again, seeing friends and strangers scurrying along the paths around her, off to the next class or to study at the library. She was nearly done with all of that. A bit of melancholy pinched in her chest. She would miss this place and these people, this season of her life. But it was time.
She needed to spread her wings and learn to fly on her own now.
She couldn’t wait to get into her own classroom and start making an impact in the lives of children. Her stomach growled again, interrupting her daydream. Maybe she’d just go grab a quick sandwich from the student union.
She turned to pick up her backpack from the ground and saw Dom walking slowly toward her, from the opposite direction than she’d been expecting him. Something was off.
Dom—big, outgoing, powerful Dom—was walking with those broad shoulders she loved hunched and his hands in his pockets. He hadn’t looked up from the sidewalk and appeared to be talking to himself.
Jo’s peaceful mood disintegrated. What was wrong?