Chapter 86

• She takes in his words, grateful that he’s said them but still not believing them. “We came around a corner on this winding road we were driving on. There was an elk in the road, and Max swerved the car to avoid him.” She can hear Nicholas suck in an audible breath, knowing where this is going. “We veered into the oncoming lane, and the tires grabbed the edge of the road because Max had overcorrected too much. I don’t know. It all happened so fast.” She shudders again, and Nicholas holds her, his arms squeezing tighter around her as if their strength can ward off the inevitable. “I remember seeing the first trees as we went over the edge and started down the ravine. I remember Max swearing, and it struck me as odd because he rarely swore.” Her stomach lodges in her throat as she remembers the weightless feeling as the car lifted from the ground and the centrifugal force that tossed her around like a ragdoll as the car tumbled down. She reaches up and wipes the single tear that has slid out of the corner of her eye. She shakes her head, “I’m sure you don’t want to hear all of this, Nicholas. I don’t want to put a damper on our evening.”
• She can feel him shake his head as it’s resting on her shoulder. His arms are wrapped across the top part of her chest, from shoulder to shoulder, and she brings her hands up to hook onto them. “No, please continue, Annabelle. I appreciate you sharing with me. Letting me get to know and understand you better.”
• Maybe if she opens up to him, then he’ll feel comfortable enough to explain his past to her as well. Is this her subconscious reasoning for telling him this? Is she hoping that it’ll turn into a quid pro quo? She thinks about this for a couple of seconds and realizes that as much as she can hope this might happen, the reality is that she feels relieved to be talking about it for the first time in a long time.