“I know your mom and dad are gone, Demetri. I know you and Alec are alone. Sometimes people don’t need therapy. They don’t even need to talk. They just need to be held. And you have nobody to hold you, no adult to tell you how proud they are of you. As your therapist I can tell you you’ve made great strides.”

She laughed and pulled away. “As Nat’s mother I want to tell you that I am so proud of the man you have become, and I know your parents would feel the same way. You are stronger than you’ll ever know, and you will get through this, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but each day as you heal, the pain will slowly dissipate and you’ll walk away from this feeling stronger than before. “You want to know what makes life so beautiful?”

I shook my head.

“Pain. Pain makes life beautiful, because if we never had pain, we’d never be forced to grow. You’ve been given your fair share of pain, some of it self-inflicted, some of it just bad luck. But as a therapist I have to believe there’s a reason for it, and as a mom I know everything happens for a reason. Your pain matches your destiny, and you, Demetri Daniels, have a great destiny.”

Unable to think of what to do I just stared at her and told myself that guys don’t cry and that I’d been doing too much of that lately.

After a few brief seconds I found my voice. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Oh, and you’re fired.”

“Finally.” Mrs. Murray winked. “You know you can talk to me anytime, but you’ve been more of a son to me than my client this last year.”

“Thanks for separating the two until I was ready.”

“I’m not a fan of overwhelming people just getting over drug addictions.”

“That reminds me.” I snapped my fingers. “You got those meds?”

“Go home, Demetri.”

I saluted her and walked out of the house feeling lighter than I’d felt in years. The pain was still there, but now it was a reminder of growth.

With a smile on my face I pulled out my phone and texted Alyssa.

GOOD MRNING BEAUTIFUL! HW WAS UR NIGHT?

MINE WAS HORRIBLE EVEN WITH YOU BY MY SIDE. I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER. WHN UR READY U CAN FIND ME ON THE CORNER W MY BUCKET.

Chapter Thirty-three

Alyssa

The buzz from my phone woke me out of a dead sleep. I reached next to me expecting Demetri to still be there, but he was gone.

Rejection washed over me all over again. It was safe to say I was past the angry stage and heading into the depths of depression. My phone went off again.

I found it on the nightstand. Once my eyes adjusted I noticed it was from Demetri.

Being dehydrated from crying all night, I didn’t think I had any moisture left in my body, but wonder of all wonders a warm tear slipped down my cheek onto my phone when I saw his message.

Stupid taffy bucket. I should hide the thing. That would freak him out.

I couldn’t reply, not yet. Everything was still so fresh in my mind. I walked slowly to my bathroom and started the shower, replaying all the drama of the day before in my head.

After my shower, I made my way downstairs and started to pour myself a bowl of cereal, when the doorbell rang.

I knew my parents were most likely already at the store. I shuffled over to the door and pulled it open.

Holly was waiting on the other side. Her eyes were bloodshot and she was still wearing the same clothes from last night. And I thought I had it rough last night — at least I’d showered.

“Can I come in?” she asked in a small voice. “I know you probably hate me right now, but I really need to talk to you about everything that happened.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the gory details. I mean, technically I was more pissed at Brady than at her, and poor Demetri had somehow been dropped smack dab in the middle of our small town drama, but still. I was too tired of fighting everything. I opened the door wider and let her in.

We walked in silence to the living room and sat down on the couch.

“Your house is nice.” Holly’s wrung her hands in her lap. I could tell she was nervous because she’d already commented on my house the day before when she helped me get ready for Demetri’s party. Gosh, that felt like a lifetime ago. Her eyes closed and when she opened them back up again I knew this was probably harder for her to do than for me. After all, she’d carried this burden throughout Brady’s death.

“I was so angry at Aaron that night. We’d gotten into another fight about something stupid. Weird, right? I can’t even remember what we fought about. What was so important that I felt the need to throw my life away in the span of ten minutes?”

I swallowed the emotion in my throat and grabbed her hand.

“We always hung out at the same parties. We weren’t exactly friends, but it was no secret how much he liked you, Alyssa.

That night he’d been drinking a lot. I mean, we all had. You don’t need the details. Just know that I’m pretty sure if you would have asked him his name at the time, he wouldn’t have been able to tell you a damn thing. The guy was wasted. He kept saying your name over and over again once everything was done. I tried to console him, but he just kept staring at his phone, staring at a picture of you two.”

“He called me,” I said hoarsely. “To come pick him up.”

“I know.” Holly smiled. “I saw him stumble outside and wait for you. I was too drunk to remember much, but know that the look on his face was something I’ll never forget. He loved you, Alyssa.”