Page 125 of Only After We Met

“Ginger.”

“What?”

I could feel him tense up.

“I don’t talk to my father because…he’s not my father. And she’s not my mother either. Neither of them are my parents. I found out byaccident that I’d been adopted. They never told me. And then stuff happened. Stuff that can’t be undone. Words that can’t be unspoken. That still hurt.”

“Rhys, I’m so sorry.”

“I just wanted to tell you because you’re my best friend. And you always will be. It doesn’t matter what happens. Ever. It’s us on the moon.”

I turned and looked for his face in the darkness. I stroked it with my fingers until I reached his lips and traced their perfect curves. “Always. I promise you that.”

I kissed him slowly and sweetly. A kiss that tasted of goodbye.

72

Rhys

The light was trying to sneak in past the curtain. I turned around in bed and frowned when I saw what time it was on the clock on the nightstand. The first thing I thought was that Ginger was going to miss her flight. The second was that Ginger wasn’t even there. I got up, anxious, and noticed her suitcase was gone. There was just a note on the kitchen counter.

I’m sorry, Rhys. I’m sorry I left like this. But I couldn’t do it any other way, because I knew if I did, you’d ask me to stay again, and I knew that I’d say yes. And it isn’t fair, okay? Not to me. Not to us, actually. But we’ll get through this, okay? You’ll see, everything will be perfect.

I’m fine. Don’t worry, I called a taxi to pick me up. I’ll write you soon. Take care. Seriously. Don’t get lost.

Thank you for this summer.

Thank you for giving me so much.

73

Ginger

I had always known Rhys would break my heart.

I don’t know how or why. It was just that sometimes people know things instinctively. In the depths of my soul, I knew it the day I met him years ago, I knew it every time I read one of his emails, I knew it on the Ferris wheel in London when I first kissed him, and above all, I knew it when I agreed to live with him that summer without thinking about the consequences, without promises, pretending when our skin touched that it wouldn’t shatter what we had.

Well, it didn’t. Nothing shattered. But maybe it made it worse. Because we couldn’t stop the cracks from opening up. And the problem with cracks is that they don’t lead to instant destruction. They’re not enough to make the building collapse on their own. But they’re there. Threatening. And when it rains…the water starts pouring in from all sides.

Part 5

Dreams. Forks in the Road. Beginnings.

“Flowers are weak creatures. They are naive.

They reassure themselves as best they can.

They believe that their thorns are terrible weapons.”

The Little Prince

74

From: Ginger Davies

To: Rhys Baker

Subject: All good