Page 170 of That Last Summer

I couldn’t agree more.

“Then I came home and... I saw you through the glass. The rest, you already know. I walked out of here shaking, got in the car, and started driving; all I wanted was to get away from you, from that image of you. I got to the airport and bought a ticket to Boston. It wasn’t for any reason in particular; it was the first available plane ticket. Before I went through the security check, Adrián called me. I didn’t explain, I just told him I had to go, and he understood that something had happened with you. He begged me to wait for him. I threw my phone in the first bin and sat down to wait. He arrived three hours later. He asked me repeatedly not to leave, but I ignored him. When he was sure it was useless to keep insisting, he promised to meet me in Boston. He didn’t go home. He bought a ticket for the next flight, and we met there. I showed him the photo and... he also assumed it was you. He stayed with me for a month, helping me get settled, and then he came home.”

“I asked him where you were. I was desperate to find you, Pris.”

“I can imagine.”

“At first, I thought you were upset because of the fight and guessed you needed a few days to cool off. But the days passed, and you didn’t come back. I began to think that you didn’t love me, that you’d realized you weren’t in love with me and run away. Adrián came back and just told me to forget about you.”

“Adrián isn’t to blame; he thought he was defending me.”

“I know. I wrote you a lot of emails.”

“I didn’t read them.”

“I guessed that much. And it’s better that way, believe me. They got angrier with every passing week.”

“I did read one. Only one.”

“Which one?”

“The one on December thirtieth.”

“I think I hate you,” Alex remembered out loud.

“Yes. That one. I read it a few minutes before Adrián called me to tell me about the accident.”

“It was Adrián who called you?”

“Yes, he told me you’d had a serious accident and that I had to come back. I looked for a flight right then, but it was New Year, I couldn’t get anything until a week later. I was going crazy; I needed to see you and make sure you were okay, and I realized I loved you so much that I would try to work things out with you. I came with the intention of not going back to Boston, but I got to the hospital, and everything went wrong. Carolina was in your room.”

“Not because I wanted her there, Pris. I remember she came to see me a couple of times, but I barely noticed her.”

“I know. Now I know. It was just bad luck, I guess. And Carmen being there and telling me that it was just a scare...”

“You know I’m not a violent person, but when I think about what she did, everything inside me turns upside down, Pris; it makes me sick to my stomach and I want to go find her and call her names, nasty names. You should have seen the looks on their faces when Adrián confronted them—”

“Really? You didn’t tell me that!”

“I know! But it’s been a fucking crazy day. I was in the pub, drinking beer and debating with myself whether or not to go to the airport, when—”

“Would you have come to the airport?”

“I think so. I think I’d have gone to stop you anyway.”

I cut him off with a kiss, and oh my goodness, the taste of his lips...

“Keep going.”

“Then the sisters and Adrián appeared almost at the same time. He started questioning them about your visit to the hospital and I almost had a heart attack. Because the hardest thing for me to forgive was that you hadn’t come to see me.”

“How could I not?”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s easy to say now.”

“And did they confess?”

“Partly. But it wasn’t necessary: Adrián believed you and he just exposed the facts. By the way, do you want to know why my brother and Carolina were fucking in my bedroom?”