tomorrow and start a fresh new life with him. I tell him I will drive even though he argues with me being pregnant and tired, but I know where I’m going. I can never forget.
Twenty minutes later, we stand at the gates. Lex looks at me confused, but he doesn’t ask questions.
I walk toward the small gap in the fence and move the fence slightly so we can squeeze through. Most people would be terrified being here, but it’s one of the only places where I feel at peace, the solitude that I constantly crave. I haven’t been back here since last year, the guilt sweeping in as the realization becomes apparent.
Somehow, I had let time pass by, but perhaps, in hindsight, it was a good thing. I needed to heal and also process Lex coming back into my life.
Outside, in the freezing air, it’s pitch black with only the slight hint of the moon. I follow the path—every step, every turn is memorized. In the corner near the sleepy willow tree, I continue walking until I see it just before me.
It sits there, the stone looking slightly worn. I place my hand on it and kneel on the ground, wiping away the snow covering the name.
Althea Olivia Mason
In Loving Memory
“Lex, I want you to meet my grandmother because without her, life wouldn’t have gone on. She held my hand through my darkest times even when her own demons were battling against her. In the end, I lost her, but I need to tell you now why I was so afraid to fall in love with you again. Why, from the moment I saw you in the restaurant, I tried to deny any feelings I still had for you. Why I pushed you away, why I lied to you that day in the hospital.”
“It all started during the summer break, exactly sixty days since the last time I had seen you…”
LEX
Since the moment I first ran into Charlotte at the restaurant, I knew there was more to me leaving than what she was letting on. I never thought I would be standing in the middle of a cemetery in the dead of night.
Unsettled by the surroundings, I remain silent, careful with my footsteps, allowing her to release the burden weighing her poor shoulders down.
I follow her lead to a section of tombstones sitting underneath a large willow tree. She stops and stares quietly before kneeling on the cold ground. Gently, she raises her hand and wipes her palm across the stone, its words now visible as I read them with my own eyes.
It’s her grandmother’s gravesite.
Charlotte shows no sign of being scared. It almost looks like she’s at peace sitting on the cold, dirty ground, not at all affected by her eerie surroundings. As she begins to speak, I kneel beside her and listen to her words, the words I know will finally explain the missing piece of the puzzle.
“Lex, it all started the summer break when I moved to Connecticut, exactly sixty days since the last time I saw you…”
I sat at the dining table, staring at the envelope in front of me. It was thick with the Yale logo stamped on the top left corner.
When I had arrived here two weeks ago, I immediately applied to some community colleges hoping my late admission would be accepted. With the help of Gran, and the fact she was a Yale alumnus and still friends with some of the head faculty, I knew this thick envelope only represented positive things ahead, and her assistance had paid off.
I looked up at the clock, it was a quarter past three. Gran said she wouldn’t be home until three-thirty, so I waited, unable to do this alone.
At exactly three-thirty, she strolled through the kitchen carrying a basket of apples. She was making her famous homemade apple pie, my favorite. She saw me anxiously sitting at the table. Placing her basket down, she put the kettle on the stove. Apparently, tea solved the world’s problems. With a steaming cup of tea placed in front of me and one for her, she finally sat at the table.
“Sweetie, take a sip, please. We knew this day would come. What lies inside this envelope does not define who you are.”
I took her words in—she was right. No matter what happened, I would do what I wanted to do, and that is to study to be a lawyer. I took a sip of my tea and opened the envelope