Page 116 of Forever Dark
“It was too complicated.”
Jessie leaned back.“That’s what people say when they don’t want to explain themselves.”
Selena had no good answer to that.
Instead, she asked, “How was the wedding?”
Jessie barked a laugh.“Beautiful.But the marriage sucked.Now I’m two for two, the least said about both of them, the better.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Don’t be.”Jessie shrugged one shoulder.“He was a deadbeat.Good riddance.It’s not like somebody died.”
Hank arrived with two thick glass mugs of milkshake and two coffees balanced expertly on a tray.He set them down with a flourish.
“Here,” he said.“These are on the house.”
Jessie grinned.“Thanks, Hank.”
“Are you sure, Hank?”Selena said.
He wagged a finger at them.“Yes.A homecoming gift.I hope you stick around.Your old man must be thrilled.”
Then he shuffled off again.
“Are you staying?”Jessie asked.
Selena lifted the milkshake and took a sip.
The taste hit with absurd force.Blueberry syrup.Cold cream.A little too sweet.Exactly the same.For one moment it carried her straight back to summer afternoons at fifteen, packed into this booth with Jessie and Connor and whichever friends had drifted through that week, all of them full of complaints that meant nothing and hopes that seemed endless.Back when the world felt on the verge of opening instead of narrowing.
Jessie watched her over the rim of her mug.“How is it?”
Selena set the glass down carefully.“Still the best in the county.”
That made Jessie smile.A real one this time.
Something in Selena gave way then.She reached across the table before she had fully decided to do it and laid her hand over Jessie’s.
“You know I missed you terribly,” she said.
Jessie’s expression changed.
A flicker in her eyes.
She turned her hand and squeezed Selena’s fingers.“I missed you, too.”
As she did, the sleeve of her sweater rode up.
Selena saw the marks.And they were like a shot to her soul.
Needle scars.Faded but unmistakable.
Her breath caught.“Jessie… I…”
Jessie drew her hand back and tugged the sleeve down with a quick practiced motion.“Don’t worry.I’ve been straight for two months.Connor got me into a rehab.Still managed to hold on to my veterinary practice, just had to close it for six months, but I’m getting back on my feet.”
The words dropped hard into the space between them.
