Free All Roads Lead Home by Mary Wasowski Page B

ever want help from.”
    “You’re wrong again. He loves you. Never stopped. He told me so.”
    “He told you? When?”
    “It doesn’t matter on the when. Just know that he loves you, and you now have the second chance Jamie always wanted for you. Take it, Tenley. Stop running. Stop hiding. And come home. My plane leaves at six o’clock out of LaGuardia.”
    “Wendy, before I travel anywhere, I need some time to process all of this and speak with my boss. I have responsibilities here. I just can’t leave on a whim. Will you give me that?”
    “I can, Tenley, but you have to give me something in return.”
    “Wendy, you are not being fair. You just can’t expect me to walk out of my life and go back to a place I no longer consider my home.”
    “Why? You’ve done it before. This should be easy for you.”
    “Now you’re being cruel. Don’t you ever think for one minute me leaving Wyoming was easy on me. Jamie practically forced me out of the state because he didn’t want me to see him die. I would have given anything to stay. A phone call was made, and I was on a plane. I cried the entire time. A ranch hand greeted me at the gate. Where the hell were my parents when I needed them! I’ll tell you, Wendy, they were gone. Wallowing in their own pain and leaving no room for me. I tried to be the good daughter, do what they wanted, but I was alone. You say I have a fortress around my heart? Well it doesn’t take a fucking genius to figure out how it got there.”
    I continued, “As for Jagger…you say he needs me? The same man that you say still loves me, who shunned me at my brother’s funeral. I spoke maybe ten words to Shane, and then I was back on that fucking plane. Not a plea to beg me to stay, just a wave from the door. Come home? To what Wendy? We all made decisions here. Jamie chose how he wanted to spend his last days, and they weren’t with me. I wanted Jagger, he wanted the ranch. What the hell was I supposed to do? Just give up law school? I wasn’t ready for that, and it was selfish of him to expect me to. If Jagger truly loved me, then he would have never asked me to choose.”
    “Will you wake the hell up, you stubborn girl!” Wendy was yelling. “Are we talking about the same story here? You seem to forget that he asked you to consider going to a closer school. No, I’m wrong. He begged you, but you refused. Your parents begged you to come home time and time again, but you refused them too. You flew home for one damn day for your brother’s funeral. You think I don’t see you? I see you all gussied up in your designer suits with the accessories to match, but it’s all for show. This is not you. You’re coasting through your day to day acting as if you have it all figured out, but you don’t. You live alone and isolate yourself from everyone who loves you. Why? I just don’t understand it. A once a year Christmas card is not going to cut it anymore. You can’t be a runner forever. Your presence is needed at home, and you need to face the people you abandoned and are hiding from. You are not the only one that lost Jamie. We all did.”
    “Abandoned? Really, Wendy? I don’t need a reminder on what I’ve lost in my life…And I’m not hiding ! I’m living and doing the best I fucking can. Do you want to talk about abandonment? From Jamie, my parents, and Jagger…they all left me on my own. What the hell do you want from me?” I hissed at Wendy.
    “I guess I touched a nerve didn’t I? The truth always finds its way right to one’s heart. You’re only reacting this way because deep down you know I’m right. I’m sorry I had to be. Like I said, I have a plane to catch and it leaves in four hours. The choice is yours.”
    I remained at my desk and watched Wendy exit my office. My back was against the wall and I was so lost right now. Jagger still loves me? How? After all of this time? Can I really go back home and face the two men that I hurt the most? Shane and Jagger were my