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Chapter 3

Wesley continued through the cabin searching for her.

"Her car is here so I know she is here." Wesley said aloud in a shushed voice.

She continued through the cabin. Wesley found her ex's phone and keys in the kitchen, so she knew she was here. She kept looking. She was not in this house.

Wesley reached the backdoor and peered out through the glass. She found her. Out on the pier to the lake, Wesley could see a silhouette of a tall figure. There was enough light to see her curls bouncing in the wind.

Wesley's heart returned to the bottom of her stomach. The same place it had been when she saw the car. She was frozen. It had been so long since she had seen the other woman. Now that other woman is there, fifty yards away from her.

She slowly opened the door. The smell of the fresh water of the lake filled the air. She heard insects chirping, tiny lake waves, and pure silence. The closest person was miles away, but she felt like the only two people on the planet was herself and the tall silhouette leaned against the railing of the dock. Her legs moved without any more hesitation, and she was making her way to the shadow.

There was plenty of light. She could see every crack in the sidewalk she was walking on. The dock was well lit too. If you were on the lake, you could see the dock from miles away. The way she was positioned made it impossible to make out anything but her figure – perfect curves in what must be the tightest jeans Wesley has ever seen.

She reached the dock and her ex still hadn't noticed her coming. The wooden boards creaked under her catching the other woman's attention. The tall woman stepped into the light and Wesley melted. She was wearing ripped jeans with sandals, a loose t-shirt, and her curly dirty-blond hair loose below her shoulders.

She looks just the same but older. They approached each other without a word. Neither of them could speak. Finally her ex broke the silence.

"I knew you would come." She spoke.

Wesley hesitated scrambling for the right words. It was almost as if she forgot how to make a sentence.

"Fletch." She said in a whisper.

"I need answers," she spoke before allowing the other woman to speak.

"I can't fully move on until I do."

The past pain resurfaced for both of the women. Slowly water was creeping into Wesley's eyes. Fletch looked at her resembling the same emotions.

"Let's talk then." Fletch responded.

Silence came again. Neither of them knew what to say but they both were there and so much needed to come out.

As a tear fell, Wesley quickly wiped it away in hopes the other woman wouldn't see. "I haven't seen you since that day and I just need to know what I did wrong." You could hear the hurt in her voice. Five years later and the pain was still unbearable.

"It wasn't you." Fletch said as her voice cracked. You could tell the woman hurting. "It wasn't anything you said or did. It was me. I was dumb and drunk, and I can never forgive myself for what I did."

After Wesley's mother left, she was a mess. Her mother was her best friend more than she was her mom. Wesley didn't see that as a bad thing, her mom had had her when she was only 15.

One day when Wesley got off work, she was going to surprise Fletch for their two-year anniversary. She had been having a rough time and just wanted an evening full of her girlfriend and nothing more. She had worked all afternoon making a variety of cupcakes, pastries, and baked sweets for their evening. She went to the flower shop and bought a giant bouquet of Fletch's favorite flowers. She accompanied the flowers and sweets with takeout and sparkling water.

She told Fletch to meet her at the cabin at 7pm as she was going to go home and change before she went there. It was around 5:15pm when Wesley arrived at the cabin and was confused to why Fletch was already there. She should have been at work still.

Wesley left everything in the car and proceeded to go inside. When she reached the front door, it was locked. Though it was unlike Fletch to lock the door knowing she was coming, Wesley didn't think much of it. When she entered the cabin, she called out for Fletch with no response. She looked around and saw an unfamiliar pair of shoes by the front door.

Wesley looked around the cabin in confusion. Where was Fletch and who did these shoes belong to? After no luck anywhere else, the last place to look was the playroom. There was no reason Fletch should have someone else in there. That was their sacred place. That was for Wesley and Fletch only.

She slowly opened the door to the playroom. Once she could see in the room she froze. There was Fletch with another woman. Fletch jumped off the bed. Wesley ran out the door and got in her car. Fletch wasn't far behind her, but she was too late. Wesley sped off and that was the last time she saw Fletch.

In bed with another woman.

"I tried so hard," said Wesley.

"I had our entire evening planned out. From the moment we got to see each other until the next morning. I needed you. You knew I needed you."

"I know Wes." Said the other woman.

"I just went to have a few drinks with my friends, and I had way too many." Her head dropped.

"I was drunk and the last thing I remember is seeing you jump in your car and then your taillights disappearing."

"That's what is always was. You always had a few too many."

Anger began to replace the sadness Wesley felt.

"How many times did I have to leave my mother to come pick you up? How many times did Sherriff Bailey call me to come get you because you were passed out on a curve somewhere?"

The anger kept growing and growing.

"I tried everything I could. I told Mrs. Webb at the store to not sell you the beer. I pleaded to Mr. Ripley at the bar to not let you have but just one drink." Her voice started cracking. "Everyone always called me when you started drinking. If it wasn't for those friends of yours, you would have never done any of that."

She took a deep breath and threw her hands up. "Who knows? Maybe if you would have stayed away from them like I asked you to, that house I built would have your last name on the mailbox and not mine."

Wesley looked at the other woman. Fletch's eyes had waterfalls coming from them, but her whimper was silent.

Wesley could see the pain Fletch felt. She came closer to the other woman. Breaking the silence that once again filled the air, Fletch finally spoke.

"I am sorry for all the pain I caused you." She said in a hushed tone.

"After you drove away that night, I immediately went and got help. I have not taken a drink since that night. I am 5 years and 3 months sober."

She paused.

"As for what I did that day, I could never express how sorry I am. As soon as I was sober enough, I called you. Day after day I would call you." Her eyes were still leaking but not near as bad.

"I called you when I woke up, I called you before I went to bed and a couple times in be-"

Wesley stopped her,

"When I left, I immediately packed a bag. I left the next morning, and I never came back. A couple days later I changed everything, my phone number, my email, and I even deleted all of my social media. I didn't want to see anything of you."

When Wesley left that next morning, she never looked back. She had her grandparents pack the rest of her things and when she found an apartment in North Carolina she had them bring everything to her. Of course, she made it worth their while. Her apartment was five minutes from the beach, and she had an extra room for them for when they came to visit.

Her grandparents helped her get settled in her new apartment and open her second bakery just a block away from it. She closed her bakery back in her hometown because she wanted nothing to do with that area. Other than her grandparents, it was like Wesley Southworth never existed in that small Michigan town.