I was late.

I was so late that the chances of me making it before the game ended were slim.

Jake had told me to stay home and finish the design I was sketching up for Daniella Marston. I hadn’t realised the time until I threw the pen down, satisfied I’d done my best.

Once I’d pulled the car into a parking spot just around the corner of the stadium, I rushed towards the mass of people that hurried out of the gate. I’d missed the game. That much was obvious. But it wasn’t until I rounded the corner that I noticed why people were rushing around frantically, phones glued to their ears. Riley was the first person I recognised as I rushed forward. It was the horror in his eyes that forced me to stop. His eyes moved and I followed them, swallowing the lump that had lodged its way in my throat.

An ambulance with blue flashing lights stared back at me, and I blinked back, hoping it was just my imagination playing tricks on me. Only, when I mustered up enough strength to open them again, I knew it wasn’t my imagination at all.

My feet carried me across the car park towards Riley and the loud sirens that flashed before me. He looked up at me, frowned, and then his eyes shifted towards the three paramedics who were pushing a stretcher.

“Riley?” I said, my voice quivering. My heart felt like it was no longer functioning as I looked to him for answers.

“It’s not good,” was all he offered by way of an explanation and I rushed towards the ambulance. Towards Jake.

“Jake!” I cried out when I noticed him lying down on the stretcher while one paramedic held up his leg. “What happened? What’s going on?” Questions, questions, so many questions. And yet, no one answered a single one of them.

My eyes drifted to his knee and I instantly felt sick. What had happened to him? Why now? I wanted to crawl inside the ambulance and lay beside him. Play with his thick, dark hair and tell him how sorry I was for not being there. And I almost did just that. That is, until Jake held a hand out to stop me.

“Jake? Let me come with you. You need someone with you.” Tears streamed down my face and I didn’t even try to hide them.

“I’m sorry, Miss. He doesn’t want you to come with him.”

“Of course he does.” I laughed mechanically.

The younger one of the three—the woman—gazed down at me sympathetically, shook her head and said, “I’m sorry. We can only do as he asks and right now, we need to get him to the hospital.”

“B-but?” I stuttered.

Jake pulled the oxygen mask away from his face and tried to lean forward, only one of the paramedics stopped him. “Rye?” Jake strained out and I looked to the side, noticing Riley standing beside to me.

“It’s alright, bud. I’ll come with ya.” Then he patted my arm and climbed in, taking a seat beside Jake. I could only watch helplessly as they closed the doors to the ambulance and pulled away. I stood there, watching in the distance, the faint echo of the sirens leaving me dazed and confused.

He hadn’t wanted me to go with him. Why? It didn’t make sense.

Three weeks felt like an eternity. A slow, painful eternity without having Jake in my life. I had done everything to try to take my mind off not having him around anymore. I even put in extra hours at the store because, surprisingly, Leanne’s high demands gave me less time to dwell over things, and for once, I was thankful.

It was a Saturday evening and I had just walked through the front door when Mum called out from the kitchen.

“Mel, is that you?”

“Yeah, Mum,” I called back, tossing my bag onto the table and making my way to the kitchen.

“Good day at work?” she asked, her eyes flicking to mine briefly before she went about stirring the pot of food she had cooking on the stove.

I shrugged and slid onto a stool, resting my elbows on the breakfast bar. “It was okay, I guess.”

“I meant what I said. I could really use your help in the studio. I know working with your mother isn’t exactly ideal, but it’s got to be better than working at Lillie’s.”

I reached for an apple from the bowl and twirled the stork around my fingers, letting it pop off.

She’d mentioned a few times over the past weeks that it would be great if I started working with her. Three years ago I would’ve jumped at the chance to be around my mum all the time, but I enjoyed my own freedom now, and I knew I wouldn’t have that freedom if I worked for her. I was just getting her back. I didn’t want anything to jeopardise the relationship we had been working so hard to build up. I shrugged again. “I know, and I love you for asking me, but I’m fine. Really.”

Mum pulled the pot off the stove and placed it on the granite chopping board. Then she came up behind me, pulled the untouched apple from out of my hands and wrapped her arms around me. She did that a lot lately. I found it awkward at first, but I soon learned to embrace the warmth she was offering me.

“This letter came for you today.” She sighed against the top of my head. She reached into her back pocket, pulled the white envelope out, and she slipped it in front of me. “It looks important.”

I twisted my lips and idly ripped it open. “It’s probably just a bill or something.” My shoulders slumped as I pulled the A4 sheet of paper out and unfolded it.

For a long while I stared in silence, mulling over the words written before me. It was from Daniella Marston’s PA. Why would she be writing to me? I never…

“Mel? What is it?” Mum’s concerned voice carried through the silence.

“I… I don’t know.” I stuttered, holding it out to her.

Her eyes danced as she read the words printed out on the paper, and then her eyes flashed up to me. “Mel? You know what this is, right? That design you were working on. Did you forget?” she asked in amusement.

“No. I didn’t forget. I just never sent my designs away.”

“What are you saying, honey?”

“I’m saying that someone else must have sent them in because I sure as hell didn’t.”

“Oh, sweetheart, you’ve been all out of sorts these last few weeks. Maybe you just forgot you sent them. I forget stuff all the time.”

“No, Mum.” I shook my head. “I didn’t send them. I know I didn’t send them.”

“Then who…”

“Bessy...” we both said.

“It still doesn’t make sense, though.” I frowned. “How would Bessy even know where to find them? They’re still in my drawer upstairs. I know this because I had them out just this morning.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Mel. Maybe she snuck in while you were out and made a copy. I don’t know.”

I thought it over for a moment and figured that she must’ve been right.

“You won, Mel. You should be happy.”

“I am, it’s just… I can’t go.”

“Why not? If this is about work, then quit. I told you, there will always be a job for you with me whenever you need it.”

“You read it! It’s in New York!”

“All the more reason for you to hop on that plane and go. Those opportunities don’t come around too often. Take them. Take them while you have the chance.”

I sighed. “Three months is a long time.”

“And you’ll love every second of it.” She smiled knowingly.

Bessy had sent my designs in for a reason, which meant she believed in me. Like Jake had believed in me. There was no reason why I shouldn’t get on that plane and go. It wasn’t like I had Jake anymore. He’d made it perfectly clear that afternoon at the hospital that he never wanted to see me again. And he had made damn sure that Taylor be the one to tell me. He had said it was all my fault. That Jake’s accident was somehow my fault and that I was the last person he wanted to see. I walked out of the hospital that day, broken, and confused. I never understood why he refused to see me–why he blamed me for the accident. I still had no idea what happened that day. Not really.

Jake’s accident had been all over the local news. Not that it was an accident. More of an unwarranted attack by some jealous, pumped-up jerk who wanted to take revenge on him for something no one ever really understood.

I turned to my mum, slid the letter off of the table and said, “Mum?”

“Yes, honey?”

“I’m going to New York.”