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“Yeah,” she mumbled, running a rough hand down her face. “Sorry. I’m uh—I’m at the Crest View Cemetery.”

A beat of silence passed, and Sam tensed, waiting for her reaction.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell her. It was just that she didn’t want it to have tomeansomething.

She wasn’t even really sure why she’d chosen to go in the first place. Stopping there wasn’t part of the plan. But then, when she’d seen the diner closed down, she just needed—something.

The world had entirely moved on—erased every trace of her only good memories in the town. And at one point, when she was younger, she wanted nothing more than to have it all wiped away. To start fresh without any reminders of the past. Because maybe then, she could finally feel settled.

But now that it’d happened, it just left her feeling—empty.

“Do you want to be there for a while longer?” Jess’ gentle voice asked. “I could pick you up whenever you’re ready. It doesn’t have to be now.”

Sam frowned, shaking her head. Although Jess’ caring voice soothed that deep empty feeling that had built, something in her didn’t want to hear it.

“No,” she said, her voice finally returning to its normal state of strength. “It’s okay. I’m ready now.”

Jess was quiet for a moment before she replied, “Okay. I’ll come get you.”

***

Soft footsteps crunched behind her.

Sam glanced over her shoulder with a frown. “You didn’t have to come all the way in. I could’ve met you out front.”

She was about to stand, but Jess placed a soft hand on her shoulder, stopping her as she sat down beside her in the grass.

“That’s okay,” Jess said with a soft smile before turning toward the headstone. “Is that..”

Sam nodded, eyes trailing over the letters of his name. “Yeah.”

Jess stared silently. “I’m sorry. I should’ve known you might want to visit him while you were here. I would’ve offered to drive you.”

“It’s okay,” Sam replied, clearing her throat. “I didn’t really think of it until earlier when I was leaving the clinic.”

Jess turned to her, her brow wrinkling. “You went to the clinic?”

Sam nodded slowly. “I went to see Laura.” She shifted, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her elbows against them. “She wasn’t there, though. I guess she moved, or something.”

“Oh,” Jess said quietly, frowning. “So you left and came here instead?”

“Yeah,” Sam muttered, biting the inside of her cheek. She didn’t know how to explain why she’d ended up there. Even though she knew Jess would be the only person to understand.

Jess studied her for a long moment. “Did you visit him the last time you came home?”

Sam stiffened slightly, caught off guard by the question. She’d forgotten about their conversation at the hotel.

She glanced over to the far side of the grounds, to the memorial wall.Although she’d been there that last time, visiting his grave that day wasn’t the reason.

“Yeah,” she whispered.

She could’ve left it at that. She didn’t have to tell Jess the whole story—the reason why she’d come home in the first place. And Jess would never know the difference.

Or maybe she would. She’d always had a way of reading through the things she left unsaid—of knowing her, even when she didn’t really know herself.

And maybe that’s why she felt the need to tell her, then.

“I—” she started, her voice coming out soft and weak in a way she hated. She cleared her throat. “When I came back that last time, it was for my mom.”