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For tonight he was safe He was on one of his peaks He had so he looked forward to He had an outlet for his art He had friends It as co next that worried me

I peeled lass of wine

The bottle glugged as the criht I wandered to the deck and stooped to turn on the lights

The first sob came from my shoulders, but the next one from my stomach

I tried to simultaneously drink the hile I cried It was a pathetic atte

I’d never experienced loneliness like I had here The isolation was unbearable tonight I dabbed at my tears and tried to take a steady breath I wanted more wine and walked back to the kitchen

Garrett made me feel helpless Part of me resented that about hi able to help Preventedwhat he needed It isted and unbearable

He wasn’t thinking about how he affected Moht That part always hurt He wasn’tso far away This was his way of shoving my choices in my face I couldn’t drive to him I couldn’t stop him And we both knew it

I ju Garrett had finally changed his mind, or at least was ready to talk about his new life plans I only needed to catch him in a moment of clarity in order to reach him He would listen to me if only I could tap into the sliver of reason I knew he carried with him It was still there He was still there

“Garrett?”

I jerked the phone toto check the number I felt frantic

“No, it’s Vaughn”

My chest tightened “Vaughn? Oh”

Disappointment crested into confusion I didn’t knohat to say It had been a week since I had made my one attempt to call him His call was out of place

“I guess you were expecting soht to it, but I had been crying and nothing sounded the same