Panic claws its way through my chest with each step she takes. “No. Don’t leave.” I reach for her out of desperation, my fingers closing around nothing but air as she flees from the shop, leaving me with the echo of her sobs and the darkness of my own despair.
Ellie
It’s crazy how drastically life can change in such a short amount of time. One moment you could be living out a dream far more beautiful than you ever imagined, only to have it cruelly shattered the next. All because you foolishly let your emotions get the best of you.
My throat tightens as I suppress the bitter regret that has wrapped itself around my heart, intertwining with the profound ache of longing I feel without Gunnar and Bear by my side.
These past few days have been absolute torture. I miss them terribly, but know I need this time to pull myself together. Not just for me, but for Gunnar too. He doesn’t deserve to deal with me being such a basket case.
Right when I thought things couldn’t get any more complicated, fate throws me another curveball, this one offering a glimmer of hope in the form of a home pregnancy test. Despite being certain I had gotten my period.
Turns out it may have been spotting, which can happen early on. Or mother nature just wants to screw with me and it’s a wacky period because of the roller coaster of emotions I have been on the last few days. Obviously, I’m hoping for the first possibility, but I’m preparing for the latter because the last thing I need is another blow to the heart.
Fortunately, I have my three closest girlfriends by my side for it. Harlow, Penny, and Hollis huddle around me in my living room, their expressions a mix of concern and unwavering support. I reached out to them earlier, needing help to sort through all these emotions and they didn’t hesitate.
As we impatiently wait for the results of all three pregnancy tests I took, I recount every detail of what happened at Gunnar’s the other night.
Their expressions fluctuate through a range of emotions: first shock, then anger, and finally, a deep sadness at how it all ended.
“I’m so sorry, Ellie,” Penny softly murmurs, her slender fingers enveloping my hand in a gentle squeeze. “I can’t imagine how much that hurt to see.”
I swallow hard, trying to fight back the fresh wave of tears. “It did, but I should have handled it better. I reacted so badly, you guys,” my voice fades away at the admission as guilt consumes me.
“Of course you did,” Harlow inserts firmly. “We all would have. Any sane person would.”
“Definitely.” Hollis chimes in with a nod of agreement, her brown messy bun bouncing on top of her head.
“Maybe, but it wasn’t Gunnar’s fault. He didn’t invite her there.”
Though, I do wish he had responded to her damn messages. Honest mistake or not, it could have spared us all, especially my heart because the image of that night will forever be etched into my memory.
“It’s not like I was naïve enough to think he hadn’t been with other women,” I continue. “But seeing it hit different.”
It more than hit. It tore me to pieces.
“She was stunning too,” I add, grumbling bitterly as I think about every voluptuous curve. “Lush hair, sultry eyes, huge boobs.” I punctuate the description with my hands. “Pretty much my opposite in every way.”
And that just makes it cut all the deeper.
“Which is exactly why he isn’t with her,” Hollis counters.
My gaze meets hers, confused by the response. “What do you mean?”
“Her being your polar opposite is exactly why he has no interest in being with her. Think about it, if that’s what Gunnar truly wanted, he would be with her, Elle, but he wants you. He chose you. He always chooses you. Know why?” She barrels on without pause, making it a rhetorical question. “Because you two share something that no one else can compete with. A bond that dates all the way back from childhood. Memories that span decades. And that is worth more than any physical attribute this Maxine has.”
Her words wash over me like a soothing balm, easing the raw ache nestled in my chest. I shift my gaze to the large living room window, savoring the sight of the velvety star-studded sky, its gentle glow outlining the very mountain that has long bound Gunnar and me. A mountain that I had begun to believe in again with my whole heart and soul.
“Do you guys ever think about the legend?” I ask softly, changing the topic as my gaze clings to the moon-kissed peak. “That maybe there is some truth to it after all?”
Hollis is the first to answer. “I do, and I wholeheartedly believe in it.” The steadfast conviction in her voice has my gaze pulling to hers. “Whenever I think back to the day I met Mike, I’m convinced that mountain had a part in it.”
I inch closer, intrigued by that statement. “What makes you think that?”
“Because the gust of wind that blinded me that snowy day was unlike any other that morning. It came out of nowhere, almost like a perfectly timed whisper that was specifically for me…” She shakes her head with a laugh, a blush of embarrassment coloring her cheeks. “I know it sounds absurd—I can’t explain it—but that’s how it felt, and after hearing the story behind the legend, I think there’s some truth to that too. I believe all legends hold fragments of the truth somewhere within them.”
A sense of validation envelops me like a warm embrace, spreading warmth through my chest.
A soft smile graces my lips, betraying the secret I’ve harbored for years. My gaze shifts between all three of my friends before I confess something to them I never have before. “Gunnar and I kissed on that mountain when we were kids.”
Penny gasps her surprise, her eyes flaring wide.
Harlow’s reaction is more visceral. “Shut the hell up,” she shrieks. “When?”
“When I was eight,” I reveal, the memory etched vividly in my mind. “I convinced him to sneak out with me and test the legend. We waited for the church bells to chime and kissed at the stroke of midnight. At the time, we thought nothing happened, but looking back now, at where we are…maybe it did work its magic. Just not the way we envisioned it.”
“I bet it did.” Hollis smiles, her wistful expression reflecting what’s in my heart.
Until Harlow shatters our moment. “Yeah, sorry to burst both your bubbles, but as sweet as these stories are, good ol’ Heart Mountain sure as hell didn’t work for me.”
My eyes snap to hers in surprise. “Who did you kiss there?”
She waves my curiosity away with a flick of her hand. “Just someone from out of town. No one you know.”
Suspicion begins to form at the way her gaze avoids mine, but I don’t get the chance to question her about it because Penny cuts in with her own thoughts.
“It didn’t work for me either,” she says, her voice solemn. “Dawson and I did more than kiss at that mountain and just look at how that ended.” Her tone is light but there is no denying the pain hidden beneath the exterior.
