“It’s from your sister.”
“I don’t have a sister.”
She flinches at the venom in my tone. Her eyes grow wide and start to swell with tears. “She deserves that.”
“She deserves a lot of things, none of them pleasant.”
“It’s an apology letter.”
“For what exactly? The options are endless. Doesn’t seem that envelope is thick enough to contain the paper it would take to list everything she should be sorry for.”
She lays it on the counter and looks back at me, the tears now gone. “I’m sorry, too, Ember. Over the last few months, I’ve reflected on the terrible things I did and allowed. Your father was right. He told me that one day the light would switch and I’d realize what a wonderful daughter you are.
“If you think I’m a monster, you’re right. Thank you for saving my life that night. There are so many things I want to tell you, but none of them seem as important as my sincere apology and extreme gratitude.”
I’m speechless.
Dad walks in the front door with Alex in tow. They both stop dead in their tracks, looking at my mother with death glares.
She holds her hand up to stop them from speaking. “I’m leaving right now.” Her eyes come back to mine for a brief second before she walks between the two men out the door.
“Ember?” Alex comes straight to me.
I lay my head on his shoulder and replay the last five minutes. Dad picks up the letter and looks at it with disgust.
“You going to open this?”
“Not today. Maybe not ever. Nothing she could say will matter. She’s dead to me. “
Chapter 46
Going Home
Robbie
We wave at Hunter’s mom one last time as we drive away. This was the last family. For thirteen days, we’ve driven thousands of miles to visit the graves of our friends and meet their families. Each night, we’ve reminisced, drinking in celebration of th
eir lives.
Most of the nightmares have stopped. I no longer dream about the roadside bomb so vividly or feel the pain in my leg. But I still have visions of Ember and the look on her face during the raid.
Thinking about her hurts. Every night before falling asleep, I stare at the pictures of her on my phone. It’s taken every bit of self-control not to call or text her, just to hear her sweet voice and tell her about my day. But I made a promise. A promise to my counselor and myself I’d do this for me. The closure was necessary for me to move on. My hand rubs my chest where my heart pounds wildly. Then it moves to the spot that now is branded with Ember’s trademark.
“Now that we’ve completed that mission, it’s time to talk.” Max directs his comment to me.
“About?”
“We’ve respected your privacy about the thing with Ember. Gave you this time to concentrate on what you needed to. But what’s going to happen now?”
“We’ll figure it out when I get home. This trip gave me time to really understand why she did what she did.”
“Robbie, it’s not good with her,” Finn adds. “I’m not sure leaving her was a good idea.”
“How would you know? You’ve been with me. Did someone call you?”
“Raven, Tripp, Jimi, Gabe, Cruz, my mom, your dad. So pretty much everyone.”
“Are you fucking with me?”