Page 72 of Denim & Diamonds

Crap.

Having no choice but the main entrance, I went straight to the front desk.

“How can I help you?” a woman asked. Thankfully, she wasn’t the same employee who’d witnessed our stepsiblings’ kiss the last time I was here.

“Hi, I’m February Shaw’s brother. I was hoping to catch her before she leaves today…”

The woman’s smile faded. “Oh. She was discharged about a half hour ago. She already left.”

My stomach dropped. “What?”

“I’m sorry.”

I hung my head. “Thanks.”

Carrying my big bag of snacks, I’d turned toward the door when a voice called from behind me.

“Hey, Lumberjack!”

I turned to find February’s friend Morgan.

I waved. “Hey…”

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

I sighed. “Well, I thought I’d catch February before she left. But it seems I’m too late.”

“Oh my gosh. That’s so romantic. You wanted to get her not to leave?”

“Not exactly. But I wanted to see her one more time before she hit the road.”

She frowned. “That’s too bad. I think she would’ve loved to see you. She was down about leaving this morning. She decided to leave early because she felt it was better to rip the Band-Aid off and get a head start if she was leaving anyway.”

My chest felt tight. “She was down, huh?”

Morgan nodded and took out a phone. She looked around and lowered her voice. “Come look at this.”

She led me down a hallway and showed me some footage of an interview with February that she’d apparently done this morning.

I could hear Morgan ask, “Closing thoughts on your time here?”

February fiddled with my bracelet around her wrist. She seemed melancholy as she answered. “Closing thoughts are that I’m happy to be leaving Sierra but not happy to be leaving Meadowbrook.”

“Any specific reason you’re not wanting to go home? Most of us are dying to get back to our normal lives by now. I know I am.”

“I feel like I’m leaving a piece of myself here. That’s all I’d like to say on camera.”

“From what I suspect, it’s a big piece.” Morgan laughed.

I rolled my eyes.

“What’s the biggest lesson you learned while at Sierra?” Morgan asked her.

February paused.“Having the right person around can change how you see life. Material things become less important when you’re surrounded by the right relationship. Experiences are what matter. And each experience is more valuable than the last. Not exactly a lesson from Sierra but more from…the ladder extension school.” She winked.

After that, February walked away from the camera, and the video ended. But boy, she was still wearing my damn flannel. And her parting words told me she was still thinking of me this morning, too.

I said goodbye to Morgan, leaving her with the bag of snacks, minus one thing I kept for myself.