“I'm fine. I was just gardening and it's just been a long day. So you said he left?” I asked, clenching the edge of the counter.

“Yes. I'm sorry. He checked out 'bout . . . three, four hours ago. He's gone.”

I thought I would collapse. The finality of those words gripped me, squeezed the air out of my lungs, and tried to drag me down to the floor.

“Do . . . you . . . did he say where he was going?”

“He's a charming fella. We had a talk . . . told me all these places he had been to. He said he . . . ah . . . was headed west. Seemed kind of sad when he left though. Checked out late. That's all I know. I'm sorry.”

He waited. But he didn't wait long enough. He didn't fight for me. He didn't try one last time.

I turned around and trudged to the door.

“Ma'am. You sure you okay? You don't have any shoes . . .” the man's voice drifted into the background as I headed out of the motel.

I was gone. Bobby had left me vacant all over again.

At first I tried to contemplate my next move in the parking lot, but I noticed the manager peeking outside the door at me. So I put the car in gear and drove away.

The sky was a dusty blue as the sun finally disappeared into the horizon. After a few minutes, I found myself sitting in my car at an empty four-way intersection on the county highway. Desolate. Abandoned. Scared.

If I kept going straight, I'd reach town eventually. But there was nothing there for me.

In the distance, on the road adjacent to me, two lights beamed in the distance. They grew larger and brighter as they neared me. I thought I should proceed, but I couldn't put my foot to the gas pedal. I had no place to go. At least here, things were quiet. I rested my head on the steering wheel in utter defeat as the lights from the other car illuminated mine.

But the light didn't disappear. I looked up to wave them along, and I saw a dark silhouette backed by blinding light. Tall, strong, walking towards my car. I squinted against the rays of light that emanated from this person to get a better view. I knew the gait instantly, but it couldn't be. I looked up at the vehicle: a light blue, weathered pickup truck.

I let out an almost hysterical celebratory laugh to myself, but at the same time, I thought I had snapped. This couldn't be. He left hours ago. And I had just learned my life was not a story where the hero rescues me. It was a tragedy where we could never be together.

“Lil? Lil? Is that you?” Bobby asked, shielding his eyes from my headlights. He began to jog over to the car. His voice. Thick like honey. Warm like melted butter. Sultry like velvet. He became more real as my sense of hearing perceived him. I thrust the door open, and stumbled out of the car, half-tripping towards the floor as I ran to him. I couldn't contain the swell of contrasting emotions that came over me as I called out his name and fell into his arms.

Touch. I could feel him all around me. A pillar of strength holding me up.

Smell. Of grass and sun. Of fresh air and salt.

“You're here.” Was all I could muster.

“I'm here, baby,” he whispered into my hair.

“They said you left. I tried so hard to get to you in time,” I panted into his chest, gripping him so tightly I thought I might cut off his oxygen.

“I tried. I waited longer and I tried to respect what you wanted to do — what I thought you wanted — but I got a few hours out and I turned around. I was just heading to you. I can't believe I just found you out here . . . I'm not letting you go this time.”

Finally feeling secure, my chest heaved uncontrollably as I cried against him.

“Lil, what's going on?” He stepped out of my grip to look me up and down. “What the hell happened? Are you okay? You said you tried to get to me?”

I didn't know where to start. How to tell him all the things that happened in the short time we had been apart. It felt like I had lived an entire life without him, coming back to him changed by what I saw in Rory.

“Bobby . . .” I choked through tears. “Rory was home. I went to the lake and I came back and he was there. Drunk. A mess. Barbie's dead. And he drove her into the river. They've been having an affair. And he's hiding and he wouldn't let me go. And I tried to call you, but I slipped and—”

Bobby gripped my face and grounded me with his warm eyes. “Lil. Lil. Slow down.”

I winced when his fingers grazed the tender spot, my head still throbbing from the fall.

“What's this?” he asked, running his thumb across the gash. “Did he do this to you?”

“It was an accident. We were fighting over the phone.”

But I saw a look in Bobby's eyes that was foreign to me. Bobby's eyes were warm sunsets. Lemonade on a creaky porch during sunset. Laughter on a tire swing. A refreshing breeze just as you stepped out of the lake on a scalding summer day.

But now his eyes were hostile. They were both hollow and full. Scorching and frigid. Focused and distant.

“Bobby . . . Bobby . . . no,” I commanded, knowing what was to come next. “I don't want you to go back there. I just want to leave. I have my purse. Let's just go and never come back.”

“Lil, I need to go over there. I need to see my brother.” The commitment in his tone told me begging was a losing battle, but it didn't stop me.

“No. Please. He's got a gun and he's drunk!” I pleaded.

Bobby snickered. “He won't shoot me. He wouldn't dare, Lil.”

“I don't want you to leave again.”

“Lil, he's lost control. And . . .” Bobby tensed visibly with a rage I didn't know he could summon. “. . . he should have never touched you. I can't just let that go. I won't.”

“He's desperate.”

“You're telling me, he killed Barbie.”

“Not on purpose. He crashed the car and left her. He panicked.”

Bobby shook his head, the rage intertwined with a deep sadness. “I don't know what the fuck happened to him. I should have never . . .” Bobby stopped himself. We had told ourselves that line countless times and learned by now, there was no winning. It was a waste of breath. We did what we shouldn't have. We let each other go years before and we were here now. That's all that mattered.

Bobby braced my shoulders. “Lil. Go back to the motel. Get a room. I'll be back.”

“No. No!” I shouted.

“Let me take care of my brother. It's my turn. This is my fault.” Bobby took a breath, softening his tone. “Lil, I need to see him. He needs his brother and he needs to understand some things. Sometimes you need your brother to hug you. Other times you need your brother to set you straight.”

“Then I have to come with you.”

“No. I need to see him. Alone. Brother to brother.”

“I keep feeling like something terrible is going to happen.”

“It already has,” Bobby lamented. He pushed my hair back and kissed me fiercely, pressing his forehead to mine. “I'm never letting you go again. You understand? I am never making that mistake. You and I were always supposed to be together. I will never leave you. I don't care anymore about anything but that.”

I nodded. Bobby was kind, he was loving, but he was a man who did things when he made up his mind and I couldn't stop him.

“I promise I'll be back,” he said, sliding into his pickup and driving towards the house. I watched as the lights of his truck disappeared into the distance.

I think Bobby knew I would follow him anyway. He hoped I wouldn't, but he knew. Because Bobby promised he wouldn't leave me again. Well, I wasn't going to leave him either.

I trailed behind just enough so that Bobby wouldn't spot me behind him on the dark road. When I pulled up to the house. Bobby's truck was parked, and a single light was on upstairs. The front door was unlocked, and as soon as I opened it, I heard a crash upstairs.