“Whatever you learned today, girl, you are going to talk to him about it.” She didn’t ask, she commanded.
“What he says won’t matter.”
“Maybe, but you are not done getting your closure. You say what you need to. You go to that launch today. Let Vick get you ready. Or better yet, let me get you ready if you want to go there and kill him.”
I shook my head like I couldn’t fathom the idea. “Don’t retreat back into this shell.” Her determined stare showed so much more than she said. Katie knew me better than all of them, and I knew her. She’d gone through enough to believe she was giving me the right advice. She didn’t care if she was pushing, she thought the pushing would save me.
“It’s not a shell, it’s survival and …” The words died on my lips as Rome cleared his throat.
Start living today.
Closing my eyes and breathing hard before I said my next words wouldn’t wake me from this nightmare because it was real. If life blew up in your face, you had two choices: stare down at the explosion, lament what was and what could have been or chose to fight your way out, become someone new, and build something new for yourself. I wanted to be someone better, someone different, someone stronger.
“Fine.” One word that would change the course of the rest of my life. I knew it. I knew today would be the turning point.
“Fine?” Katie retorted like she couldn’t believe it.
“Yep. Fine.” I straightened a little and pushed my wild hair back from my face. “Let’s get ready. Katie, you’re helping me get ready, not Vick.”
Vick grumbled.
“I’ll talk to Jax after the launch.”