Page 114 of Letters to Molly (Maysen Jar 2)

I closed my eyes. “I love you too.”

It felt good to say those words. To let them float into the wind and fade with the sunshine.

It felt good to say those words.

One last time.

_

I never thought this would be us. I never imagined we’d be here, getting a divorce.

* * *

I feel like I’m going to wake up tomorrow morning in our bed and this will all have been a nightmare. But it’s real.

* * *

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I’m ashamed of you. I’m ashamed of myself.

* * *

You quit me.

* * *

And I quit you.

Seventeen

Finn

“I’m done.” Max rushed over from his corner of the yard.

“Awesome. Let me check.” I pushed up off the grass and slowly made my way to the other side of the yard. My boot had been removed yesterday and the doctor said I’d be fine to walk with only my crutch. But that thing was a pain in the ass, so I’d ditched it in an empty hallway at the hospital and I was taking it slow instead.

Max beat me across the yard and was jumping up and down next to the patch he’d been smoothing out with mulch. “See?”

I grinned. “Looks perfect, son.”

His chest swelled with pride. “What’s next?”

I spun in a slow circle, taking in the yard. Over the last two weeks, I’d spent most of my free time out here. With things being tense and awkward with Molly, I’d escaped to the yard to finish the project I’d started at the beginning of summer.

The odd angles and sharp corners had been removed. The trees and shrubs Molly hadn’t liked—the ones I’d planted as experiments—had been removed. All that remained was to plant her lilac bush.

Kali was on her hands and knees in the opposite corner of the yard, tending to the hole we’d dug. Because lilacs had a tendency to get so large, I wanted this one to have plenty of room to grow and bloom. Even with the distance, the fragrant blossoms would carry across the yard to the back deck. If Molly left the screen open, she’d catch whiffs of the scent all spring.

“Run inside and get your mom,” I told Max.

He nodded and took off while I ambled toward Kali.

“I poured the water in the bottom, just like you said.” She smiled up at me. “What’s next?”

“We’ll take the burlap off the roots and get it set.” I pulled a utility knife from my pocket and bent down, cutting away the cloth from the bush’s roots.

“Dad, I . . .” Kali hesitated, her eyes aimed at the hole.