Truth be Told ✔️

Epilogue

The other end of the phone was unsettlingly quiet. For a brief moment, I thought that I was listening to the emptiness of a hung up phone, but then it crackled back to life.

"You chose your mom?"

I frowned. "This decision was not me picking sides. She cheated on him with a coworker in California. He slept with the family member of a patient. Neither was more wrong than the other."

"But you're still choosing your mom," Graham lamented.

I stayed silent. "Yeah, I guess I am."

Neither of us said a word. I could tell he was struggling to find any.

"Graham," I said softly, "don't make me say it aloud. You know why I chose my mom."

I could feel the deadness through the speaker. "Because she's moving to San Diego?"

I closed my eyes. "Because she isn't staying in Michigan. She isn't staying in the house only twenty minutes from Lake—" I stopped the sentence, unable to say the proper name of the lake, fully aware that I would choke up if I did. He knew it too. He was there for god's sake, not that either of us talked about. He never admitted that he had followed us to the lake, and I had never confronted him about it.

Graham grunted. "But Seth's staying here."

"And you know exactly why."

He did. The only thing the school could talk about was Seth's signing with Michigan to be their quarterback.

It's not like there wasn't anything else. No. There wasn't. Jacob and Adeline may be dead for real this time, but the community didn't know there had even been a moment when they weren't, and that's how the group kept it. Adeline and Jacob were still together, floating peacefully in Davy Jones's Storage Locker at the bottom of Lake Jayle.

"You're really leaving me, then, huh?"

"Yes." I swallowed, barely ready to deliver the next line, the one I had practiced over and over but never succeeded in not crying in the middle of it. "Graham, I will never have another friendship like ours was. We had something special and no words can describe how thankful I am for you and everything you've done for me. You took a chance on a spoiled little brat and taught her to think for herself and realize there was more to life than if the color of her nails matched her shoes. You turned me into someone that I'm proud to be today—" I sniffled, "and I hope that in some way or another I changed you as well. You mean a lot to me Graham. You deserve a real high school experience, and with me, you will not get it. You need time and space."

"But what if I don't want that?" Graham demanded.

"My flight's in an hour," I mumbled. "Sometimes change will come even if you're not ready for it. Especially then. That's when you have to dig in, and when you dig deep, you discover something about yourself that you never knew before. Consider that my goodbye gift.."

"Alexa—"

"Graham, I love you. Goodbye."

And then I hung up. But I wasn't done. I couldn't cry yet. I still had one more text to send.

Flight 456. Terminal B. One hour.

I had left voicemails and sent messages, so I knew he knew. But I also knew that I would get no response back because to reply meant acknowledging that this was real. He wouldn't do that. That wasn't Blake.

I took one last look at my room before leaving it for the last time for a long time. San Diego didn't let people leave very often, which, for now, was something I desperately needed.

Neither my father nor brother were at home for my goodbye. I hadn't spoken to Seth since that night, and right now, he was probably drinking himself to oblivion with friends in an effort to forget everything—Homecoming, the divorce, my decision to leave. As for my father, while neither he nor my mother knew what happened the night of Homecoming, he still resented me for choosing Blake, and then choosing mom on top of that only drove our wedge deeper into the ground.

No, they would not be saying goodbye. They were trying to make a point that we would not be missed. But I knew that they would anyways. The house was all leather and brown without our presence. They would miss us. And they knew it.

Without another person to say goodbye to, I climbed into the car with my mother and, like that, we were off. I wouldn't see my childhood home, or my childhood town for a very, very long time, and that's how I hoped it would stay. Despite leaving behind Maddie and McKenzie, I didn't have much else that I would miss. If anyone ever mentioned the names Baylor or Brentwood to me before I turned eighty, I would rip a hole in their vocal cords.

I was no longer a bulldog. Never, would I be a bulldog again.

When we got to the airport, my mother avoided talking to me by busying herself making sure we were in the lines exclusive to frequent fliers. A very difficult task, apparently. One that required all of her undivided attention. I, on the other hand, was the official magazine buyer. And I took that job very seriously.

After we were all settled, there was still fifteen minutes until our plane began boarding, so we sat down by the gate and waited less than patiently until it was time. And when first class was called, we were third in line.

Right as I was handing the woman my ticket, my phone buzzed. Then, my laptop hummed. And, finally, I heard, "X?"

I spun around.

And, there he was.

Blake's eyes were puffy as he stood in front of me, but that seemed to be the least of his concerns. His whole world had stopped. It was only him and I.

Without saying a word, I dropped my stuff and dashed for him. Passionately, I threw my arms around his head and locked lips with him. He drank me up as fast as he could, and I savored every inch of him. He tried to squeeze all of his love in one single kiss, and I tried to leave my mark in his mouth.

But then we broke apart. My eyes had already glossed over and tears were rolling down my cheeks.

"I'm sorry," I choked out. "I'm so sorry. I love you, but I can't stay here. I just can't."

"But I can't lose you," Blake shook. "Alexa, I've lost everything. I thought that despite the carnage, I'd at least have you. I need you."

"And I need you. But I also need time. More time than you can give me. You need someone that can be consistently there for you, and, right now, that's something I can't do The other side of the country, away from anything remotely similar to here, is the only place I'll truly be able to heal and maybe find peace with the hell that I just went through."

Blake was holding back tears. "Alexa?"

I ripped myself away from him. "I love you, Blake Baron. I always will."

I took one last long look at the most handsome, sexy, smart, kind, caring man I had ever laid eyes on, before turning around and walking through the gate.

I didn't look back.