Page 124 of Finding Forever

Her throat tightened. “We loved each other. We raised an amazing daughter. We had a good marriage and a good life. Not nearly enough of it, but what we had was ours. I’ll always love you, Jessie.”

She waited a moment before continuing. “But I love Dave, too.”

A stronger breeze came off the lake. It swept through the branches overhead, setting hundreds of leaves rustling at once. A strand of Beth’s hair blew across her cheek, and she closed her eyes.

For one fleeting moment, a memory came back with startling clarity.

Jessie reaching across the kitchen table to brush her hair away from her face. The warmth of his fingers against her skin. The teasing smile that usually followed.

Beth knew the breeze was only a breeze.

But surrounded by the lake Jessie had loved, the trees they’d once sat beneath, and a world that had continued turning through all the years since she’d lost him, she felt something inside her finally become still.

Perhaps acceptance didn’t arrive in words.

Perhaps she’d been carrying it with her all along and simply hadn’t been ready to recognize it.

Beth opened her eyes. She sat there a little longer, holding Jessie’s photograph while sunlight moved across the lake. Eventually, she looked down at Jessie’s smiling face. “Thank you.”

She wasn’t sure what she was thanking him for. Kayla. Their marriage. The years they’d shared. And maybe the woman she’d become during them. Perhaps she was simply thanking Jessie for being himself.

Beth slipped the photograph back into her pocket. For the first time, the action didn’t feel like putting him away, because Jessie wasn’t contained in a photograph.

He never had been.

She stood and turned toward Flathead Lake one last time. “I love you, Jess.” The words felt right. “And now I need to go tell Dave that I love him, too.”

Beth turned toward the path.

The breeze followed her through the trees, and the leaves stirred overhead as she walked away.

Chapter 53

Dave heard the truck before he saw it.

He was standing at the workbench in his garage, sorting through a container of screws that had somehow become mixed with nails, washers, and several things he couldn’t remember buying.

The sound of tires crunching over his driveway made him glance toward the open garage door. For one ridiculous second, his heart started beating faster. Then he told himself not to be an idiot.

Plenty of people drove trucks. Except this one was blue. Dave’s hand stilled above the container.

Beth pulled up beside the house and switched off the engine.

He stared at her through the windshield. A month ago, he would have walked straight outside. Five months ago, he probably would have wondered why she was there, but he wouldn’t have thought much beyond it.

Now he stayed where he was. Because Beth had asked for time, and Dave had promised himself he would give it to her.

The driver’s door opened. Beth climbed out wearing jeans, a pale yellow shirt, and the sandals he’d seen her wear dozens of times. Her purse hung from one shoulder, and the breeze caught her hair as she closed the door.

Nothing extraordinary. Except it was Beth. And she was here.

Dave wiped his hands on the rag beside him and walked out of the garage. “Hi.”

Beth stopped a few feet away. “Hi, Dave.”

That seemed to be all either of them could manage. He shoved the rag into his back pocket. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes. Everything’s fine.”