Lauren locked herself in her bedroom while trying to figure out what she would do next. She’d already sold her father’s house, broken her apartment lease, quit her job, and left everything she’d had in New York behind to start anew in Alaska. Some good that had done.
Now her job and home had been pulled out from under her again, and other than the small inheritance her father had left her, she had nothing.
She hated calling on her friends in the middle of the night, but it seemed unlikely she could catch a cab at this hour, and she just needed to be gone before Shane could hurt her any more than he already had.
In the wake of their fallout, she had only one friend remaining in the whole state: Scarlett.
They’d exchanged a few texts and gone out for dinner a couple times, but their friendship hadn’t been fully cemented yet. Lauren hoped her new friend would forgive her the imposition of a midnight call for help, because she truly had no other option.
“Of course I’ll come get you,” the librarian said almost before Lauren even had to ask. “Text me the address, and I’ll leave in five.”
When Scarlett arrived, Lauren slipped out from her room, praying she wouldn’t run into Shane as she made her great escape. But he’d already taken his car and left for some unknown place.
“What happened?” Scarlett asked, staring out at the burnt shed.
“Fire,” Lauren answered, rubbing her hands together for warmth.
“Yeah, but how?” Scarlett’s eyes were wide as if she opened them far enough, she could see all the answers.
“I don’t know, but he thinks I did it.”
“You? That’s crazy.”
Lauren felt the tears come back, and Scarlett must have noticed because she wrapped her friend into a tight, sisterly hug. “It’s not your fault,” she whispered into Lauren’s hair. “Shane Ramsey became a monster after he lost his wife and daughter. Everyone says so. Sure, they all put up with him, because he’s great at what he does, but nobody likes being around him anymore. He treat—“
“Wait.” Lauren pulled back to study Scarlett’s face, which was mottled with red from the cold air. “What did you just say?”
“Nobody like’s Shane anymore,” she said matter-of-factly and with a small shrug.
“About the… the wife and d-daughter?” Lauren didn’t know if the cold was causing her stutter or if it was something more, something to do with her feelings for Shane.
Scarlett waved a hand dismissively. “Oh, I thought you knew about that. Have you really been living with the guy for over a month without learning anything about him?”
“Believe me, I’ve tried, but he’s so closed off most of the time.”
“Well, I don’t know the particulars. Just that it was a nasty divorce, and after that, Shane always had a chip on his shoulder and meanness in his heart.”
“What about his daughter?” Scarlett ventured, still in shock over this big reveal.
“I don’t know for sure. People say he was deemed an unfit father and lost custody.”
“Poor Shane,” Lauren said as his sad face swum into the vision of her memory. If only he’d told her. If only.
Scarlett seemed to feel differently about it, though. “It sucks, but it doesn’t give him the right to take it out on the world. He made his own mistakes, and now he’s living with the consequences. None of what happened is your fault.”
“I know, but—”
“But nothing. Him kicking you out in the middle of the night is totally unacceptable. I always liked to think the rumors were exaggerated. I mean, how can anyone so good-looking on the outside be so ugly on the inside?”
Lauren shook her head, at a loss for words. How she wished Shane would have just told her all this himself. She could have reassured him that he was a good person, that sometimes life threw you a curve ball, but it didn’t mean you were out of the game.
“Anyway,” Scarlett said, “let’s get out of here. Put this whole thing behind you. You can stay with me as long as you’d like, of course.”
Lauren let out her breath in little puffs, refusing to cry, refusing to wonder what could have happened if things were different. She turned to her friend. “Thank you, I really appreciate that.”
“Hey, it’s what friends do.” Scarlett put her arm over Lauren’s shoulders as they walked to her car that idled in the driveway.
Lauren looked back toward the cabin one last time. This simple wooded structure had once held her hopes, dreams, even the sweet buds of love. She’d foolishly assumed this backdrop could serve as the setting to her forever, but now she realized her affection for Shane had always been one-sided.
Simply put, she loved him, because there wasn’t anyone else to love in this isolated place. No, her feelings hadn’t been real, and his had only been alive in her foolish, naive imagination. It was good—right—to leave.
She silently got into the car and refused to watch as Scarlett backed up and drove her far, far away from Shane Ramsey and hopefully from her feelings toward him as well.