Chapter 25

Suddenly, it hit me. It was over. Those days were gone. I’m not good with goodbyes, Bump, you know that. So there I was, standing by the grill, sobbing into my hands, nostalgia and melancholy wrapping their dark wings around me, until I was choking and thinking I should have brought my inhaler. At that moment, I needed Nick to be there with me. He always knows how to chase my blues away. So I called him.

“Hey,” he answered in a soothing voice, “is it done?”

“No. They’re not here yet.” I wiped my eyes with some brown paper and took a shaky breath. “I’m waiting for them. In the kitchen.”

“Are you crying?” he asked softly.

“No,” I said, holding back a sob.

“Oh, Derek. I told you we should have waited until I got back.”

“No, I’m fine.” I threw the scrunched-up paper in the bin. “But, Nick, this was everything. This place was us. It was who we are.”

“Who we were.”