Garrett let me drive, which might have been a mistake considering my emotional state, but since I had no idea where I wanted to escape to, it was easiest if I took the lead. We drove in silence for a while until I found a diner and stopped. The breakfast that I was preparing had been forgotten, and I was positive we were both hungry.

Garrett watched me with cautious eyes. I could tell from the trace of guilt that he was sorry about keeping a secret from me, and it was easy enough to forgive him. I reached across the table and grabbed his hand.

“I’m not mad at you,” I finally said.

“I’m not too sure. You might change your mind,” he replied with a skeptical smirk on his face.

“You have nothing to worry about.” I blew out a breath and looked out at the parking lot. So many thoughts were running through my brain, and they just started to tumble out. “She must live close if she was able to drop everything once she heard from Tim. And if she lives close, then why hasn’t she tried to call us? I thought that she’d be living in Peru or London or something. I just don’t understand. If she’s lived so close for all of these years, then why has it been so easy for her to stay away?”

Garrett’s thumb absently stroked the back of my hand. Mesmerized, I watched as it traced a soft path back and forth on my hand. “You’ll have plenty of time to ask her all of those questions, Cami.”

“But I don’t want to know. It’s easier to think of her as being too far away to come back because knowing that she’s been so close just makes her leaving hurt even worse.”

Our breakfast arrived, and we abandoned the conversation, which was probably for the best. It was easier to concentrate on the stack of pancakes and the plate of eggs in front of me than on all the questions that still swirled around in my thoughts. Garrett paid our bill, and we drove to downtown Gig Harbor. I found a place to park, and we walked down Harborview Drive.

The day was quite beautiful and sunny. Plenty of tourists were around, renting kayaks and boats for the day. We stopped every so often to browse through one of the many stores. I guided Garrett down toward a marina, and we admired some of the boats that were docked there.

“We should probably go to the hospital,” I finally told Garrett as we made our way back to Harborview Drive from one of the side streets. “If my dad doesn’t know that my mom is back yet, then he needs to know before she shows up.”

“Okay. I want to stop back into one place, though, before we leave,” he replied, leading me back toward a row of stores.

We stopped in front of a jewelry store, and Garrett asked me to wait outside. I obliged him because whatever he was doing seemed important. He wasn’t gone long, only a few minutes, and when he returned, he greeted me with a smile and then a firm kiss. I looked down at the small bag that dangled from his fingers but didn’t ask him about it.

“Thank you for today,” I said quietly when we made it back to the car. I stepped toward him and wrapped my arms around his waist. Settling my head against his chest, I could hear the soft murmur of his heartbeat.

“It’s not over yet,” he responded, wrapping one arm around me.

As we drove to the hospital, I mentally prepared what I was going to say to my father. I had to remind myself that he was the one who initiated this; he went looking for her. I wanted to be angry with him for doing that behind our backs, but I couldn’t find it in me to be mad. He still loved my mom and didn’t resent her for leaving, which was astounding. I hoped one day to be able to have that level of forgiveness.

Garrett held my hand firmly as we made our way up to my dad’s floor. I’d rehearsed what I was going to say to him, so when Garrett stopped short of his door, I wasn’t paying attention.

“What’s wrong?” I asked confused. He pointed toward the open door of my father’s room, and we could see my mother sitting on the edge of his bed. She was leaning over him, brushing his hair back and smiling. And he was returning her smile! Valerie was sitting on a small sofa underneath a window watching the entire reunion unfold.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” I growled under my breath. I started to march forward, but Garrett stopped me.

“Whoa there,” he said, pulling me back into a private corner. “You need to calm down before you go in there like a bull in a china shop.”

I rolled my eyes and huffed angrily, which made Garrett chuckle before he distracted me with a toe-curling kiss. “Okay, I’m calm,” I reassured him when we broke apart. He studied me carefully as we stood together in the corner until my breathing was a little more even and my heart rate steadied.

“Good. Try to stay that way,” he insisted as he coaxed me out of our private moment and toward my father’s room.

My father saw me first, and his bright smile made me feel guilty for even thinking about causing a scene at the hospital. “Cami,” he said, reaching out a hand. I couldn’t resist. I rushed forward, ignoring that my mother still sat on his bed, and grasped his hand. He pulled me down for a hug, and that was when the tears started. With his free hand, he stroked my back lightly and whispered soothing words in my ear. “It’ll be all right, Cami. It’ll be all right.”

“I’m so angry,” I whispered so that only he could hear. He nodded his understanding, and I backed away and stood. I swiped my fingers under my eyes, wiping away the fresh pool of tears, and sought the comfort of Garrett.

“Garrett, it’s wonderful to see you again,” my father said.

“Sir.” Garrett nodded at my father.

“Well, now that we’re all here,” my mother interjected. I stared at her coldly; she didn’t have a say in any of this. My body tensed against Garrett, who placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “Tell me, what’s the prognosis? What do the doctors say?”

My mother looked expectantly at Valerie and me. It was remarkable how similar my mother and I looked. Her wild curls were tamer and streaked with gray, and her eyes had lines around them. Her skin was tanned, which made me wonder if she spent a lot of time outdoors wherever she lived. Seeing her made me wonder if that was what my future held. I quickly dashed that thought from my mind because our similarities were only physical. I could never abandon my family.

Valerie spoke first. “It’s not good. He’s already had surgery and chemotherapy, but the cancer was more advanced than the doctors originally thought.”

“I have less than a year, Alicia,” my father said solemnly.

A sob escaped from my mother’s lips, and she covered her mouth to suppress the rest. Valerie went over to her and put a comforting arm around her shoulders. My father extended his hand and grasped hers. Seeing them act as though nothing happened, as if she had never left, was too much for me. I turned on my heel and headed for the door, ready to run, but strong hands reached out and stopped me.

“Stay,” he whispered.

“I can’t,” I replied with a shaky voice.

“He needs you,” Garrett reminded me.

Tears started to stream down my face, and I could taste their saltiness on my lips. “I can’t watch this. Let me have this one moment of weakness. Please.”

With a nod, Garrett released his hold of me, and I escaped, rushing through the corridors of the hospital, searching for an exit. Why should we comfort her? Who was there to comfort us when my dad was first diagnosed? Who did we have to lean on? Only each other. I’d suppressed every fear and spent many lonely nights crying because my father needed my strength. I was strong for him and for Valerie, but I wouldn’t be strong for that woman. She didn’t deserve it. My mother didn’t deserve to cry in the hospital room like her entire world was crumbling around her because she had left everything behind the day I turned eighteen.

My mindless escape led me to the front of the hospital, and I sat down on a familiar bench. This was not how I should be spending my last moments with Garrett and my last few months with my father.

“There you are.” Valerie’s voice was breathless as she sat next to me. “Why did you run out like that?”

“Are you kidding me right now, Valerie? Did you see that show Mom put on?”

“It wasn’t a show, Cami. She’s upset. We need to be there for each other.”

I was one second away from blowing my top. “I don’t understand how you can forgive her so easily, Valerie. I just don’t get it.”

Valerie sighed next to me. “I’m about to lose one parent. I don’t really want to lose another.”

I understood Valerie’s point, and I wanted to agree with her, march back up to my father’s room, and hug my mother hard and forgive her. But her leaving that day—my eighteenth birthday—was the act of ultimate betrayal.

I remember waking up on my eighteenth birthday, eager to celebrate with my friends. My parents were letting me stay home from school, and my mom promised to take me to Seattle for a day of shopping before coming back home for a girls’ night with my best friends. The thought of macarons from Le Panier and Beecher’s world-famous macaroni and cheese made me practically giddy. I raced through my morning routine and then downstairs where my mom sat quietly at the kitchen table.

“I’m ready,” I announced eagerly.

My mother looked up from her coffee cup solemnly and motioned for me to sit down across from her. “We’re not going to Seattle today, Cami.”

“We’re not? But we’ve had the whole day planned for weeks! Did something happen?”

My mother sighed and sat back in the kitchen chair. She clicked her perfectly manicured red nail on the side of her mug and looked up at me. “I know you won’t understand this, but for the past twenty-five years, I’ve given you and your sister everything I possibly could. I’ve sacrificed so much for you both, and now that you’re eighteen, it’s time for me to start living.”

I was so confused. What exactly was my mother telling me? The house was quiet because no one else but us was home. And then I spotted them—the suitcases stacked neatly by the front door. I glanced back at my mother whose expression remained stoic. Cold even.

“Are you going on a trip?” I asked, hopeful that those suitcases were meant for something more benign than the reasons that were starting to form in my thoughts.

“No, Cami.”

I didn’t want to say the awful truth out loud. “You’re leaving,” I whispered. I held her gaze and demanded the answers to questions that I wasn’t brave enough to ask. For a few seconds, I thought I saw something waver in her armor, but it was gone in an instant.

She glanced away, the muscles in her jaw tense, and stood. She gripped the back of the chair and was quiet before she spoke again. “I want you to know that I do love you, Camille. I love your father and Valerie, too. But sometimes, love isn’t enough to keep a person where they don’t want to be.”

And then she was gone.

“Sometimes love isn’t enough,” I murmured, echoing the last words my mother said to me.

“What?” Valerie asked.

“Nothing.” From the corner of my eye, I saw Garrett standing close by, watching us carefully. I stood, resolved. I loved my father and Valerie, but it wasn’t enough to forgive my mother. “I can’t handle this right now, Val. Garrett is leaving tomorrow, and I feel like my heart is going to split in two. Mom has had seven years to come back. She can wait for me.”