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The Drive Home
publish date:
2026-06-08 23:22:07
Latest chapter
Decisions I made The Clothes
When I woke up, sunlight was pouring through the edges of the curtains.For one blissful, disoriented second, I had no idea what day it was, what time it was, or why my body felt so heavy and warm and… rested.Actually rested.Not the fake kind of rested where you technically slept but still woke up with your jaw tight and your mind already running.No.This was different.The kind of sleep that sinks all the way into your bones and leaves you feeling like you’ve been gone for hours. Real hours. Deep hours. The kind of sleep I used to think only existed when you were a kid and life hadn’t figured out how to ruin your nervous system yet.I blinked up at the ceiling and frowned.Then it all came back at once.Belle barking.The flash of light downstairs.Texting Paul.The sirens.Dugan.Chris’s car.My parents flying home.My mother crying in the kit
Decisions I made No Amusement
I stood there staring at Jack like he had personally betrayed me.He had the decency to look almost apologetic.Almost.But there was still the faintest hint of amusement at the corner of his mouth, and that alone made me want to throw something at him.“Yes, sir?” I repeated, turning slowly toward him.Jack lifted one shoulder in the world’s most innocent shrug.“What did you want me to say?”I stared at him.“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe literally anything else?”Paul barked out a laugh from across the kitchen.Dad looked at him.Paul immediately straightened his face.“Nothing.”Mom was already moving into full mother mode, which meant she had decided the next ten minutes were hers and no one else’s. She crossed to the cabinet, pulled out glasses, filled one with water, then turned and handed it to me like I was five years old and needed juice after a nightmare.“Drink this.”I too
Decisions I made Dad
Mom hit the kitchen first.She came around the corner in leggings and a cashmere wrap thrown over whatever she’d worn on the plane, hair half-fallen from its clip, face pale and exhausted and already wet with tears.The second she saw me, she made a sound I never wanted to hear again.Not a scream.Not even a cry.Just that sharp, broken inhale mothers make when they’ve spent an entire flight imagining the worst.“Lela.”I barely got out of the chair before she was across the kitchen, arms around me so tightly I almost lost my balance. She smelled like perfume and airplane air and the peppermint gum she always chewed when she was nervous.“I’m okay,” I said immediately, because of course that was the first thing out of my mouth.Mom pulled back just enough to cup my face in both hands and look me over like she was checking for damage.“Don’t tell me you’r
Decisions I made The Truth
I stared at Paul across the kitchen island and immediately knew there was no good answer to that question.Because the truth?The truth made me look stupid.Weak.Embarrassing.Like one of those women everyone swears they’d never be—the ones who keep too much to themselves, make excuses for too long, and wait until things are bad before admitting just how bad they’ve gotten.I looked down at the table instead of at him.“I don’t know.”Paul gave a short, humorless laugh.“You don’t know?”“No.”“Lela.”I sighed and rubbed both hands over my face.“I don’t know what you want me to say.”“The truth would be a good place to start.”Jack stayed quiet beside me, but I could feel him listening. Not in a nosy way. Just there. Present. Waiting to understand the pieces I hadn’t given him yet.I folded my arms over my chest and leaned back in the chair.“It didn’t happen all
Decisions I made Long Night
Paul didn’t wait for anyone to answer him.The second he stepped away from the table with his phone to his ear, the entire kitchen seemed to change.The room got colder.Quieter.Like the text message had sucked all the air out of it.I stayed frozen in my chair, staring at nothing while Jack stood beside me with my phone still in his hand.**I know you’re home. We need to talk.**I could still see the words in my head.Over and over.I know you’re home.Not *Can we talk?*Not *Please call me.*Not *I miss you.*Just that.A statement.A warning.A way of letting me know he was still there, still pushing, still trying to get inside my life no matter how many times I shut the door.My hands were shaking again.Not as badly as before.Worse.Because the adrenaline from the break-in had nowhere to go now. It had settled into somet
Decisions I made The Text
For a second, nobody said anything.The silence was so complete I could hear the kitchen clock ticking over the refrigerator.Jack stayed perfectly still beside me.Not stiff.Not panicked.Just very, very still.I looked at Paul.“What do you mean he was asking about Jack?”Paul leaned back in the chair, exhaustion and irritation written all over his face.“I mean exactly what I said. Chris has been asking around about the guy you’ve been seeing.”My stomach dropped.“How does he even know I’m seeing someone?”Paul gave me a flat look.“Lela.”I stared back at him.“No. Seriously. How?”He folded his arms across his chest.“You think you’ve been hiding this?”I blinked.“Yes?”Jack actually laughed under his breath.I turned to glare at
Decisions I made Next Morning
The next morning, I woke up before my alarm.For a few seconds, I lay there staring at the ceiling.Then I smiled.Not because I had gotten a full night's sleep.I hadn't.Not because I wasn't facing a stressful day.I absolutely was.I had reports due.Meetings.Deadlines.The kind of workday that
Decisions I made Porch Light
The closer we got to my parents' house, the quieter I became.Not because anything was wrong.Quite the opposite.I was happy.Genuinely happy.And after everything that had happened over the previous week, that feeling almost seemed foreign.Jack pulled into the driveway and put the car in park.T
Decisions I made Jack and Diane
The karaoke bar was exactly what I expected.Loud.Crowded.Chaotic.And somehow, completely entertaining.Jack's mother, Diane, immediately adopted me.Within ten minutes she had introduced me to half the bar, explained who could and couldn't sing, and informed me which karaoke performances were l
Decisions I made The bar
Dinner at Houlihan's was exactly what both of us needed.Simple.Relaxed.Comfortable.The potato skins lived up to Jack's expectations.The potato soup apparently changed his life.At least according to him.I laughed so hard at his dramatic review that people at the next table started looking ove
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