They Bet I Would Leave, I Proved Them Right Chapter 10

They Bet I Would Leave, I Proved Them Right Chapter 10

The day after the presentation, my parents had me over for dinner.

They didn’t invite Nolan or any of the others.

My mom held me for a long time.

My dad managed to ruin three different pots on the stove, so we ended up ordering takeout.

Over dinner, my mom looked at me.

“Are you coming back to Bellhaven?”

I shook my head.

“Phase two is still in Westreach.”

“Another five years?”

“Maybe longer.”

My dad’s hand paused over the takeout container.

After a long pause, all he said was:

“If this is what you want, then go do it.”

“Our door’s always open.”

My eyes burned.

“Okay.”

On my way out of town, I stopped by the old neighborhood.

The pear tree was still there.

The hole where we’d buried the time capsule had been filled in.

A new metal box sat on top of it.

A note was taped to the lid.

[For Mara’s eyes only.]

I didn’t open it.

I walked around it.

Nolan stepped out from behind the tree.

He didn’t block my path.

“Our apologies are in there.”

“I know you don’t want to read them.”

“So you don’t have to.”

I nodded.

“Okay.”

He looked at me.

“Brielle moved overseas last year.”

“We cut contact with her a long time ago.”

“You don’t have to tell me that.”

“I know.”

He tried to smile. It didn’t quite land.

“I just wanted you to know.”

“Nolan.”

I cut him off.

“You didn’t trick me into leaving because Brielle meant that much to you.”

“You did it because you were sure I’d never actually go.”

Every muscle in his face went slack.

“You let yourself hurt me because you were absolutely sure I’d forgive you.”

“That’s why it doesn’t matter whether you picked Brielle or not.”

“What matters is that I’m never going back to being the person who always comes last.”

He was quiet for a long time.

“I understand.”

“Do you really?”

“Yes.”

“Then stop waiting.”

“Move on.”

His tears finally spilled over.

“What about you?”

I looked at the transport waiting outside the entrance.

“I’ve been moving forward this whole time.”

This time when I left Bellhaven, I kept my phone.

But I didn’t add any of them back.

The center didn’t stop me this time.

I just didn’t need them anymore.

Three years later, the new Westreach Research Center opened.

I was named its lead early–career research fellow.

After the ribbon–cutting, one of the new recruits came up to me.

“Miss Ellsworth, why did you come to Westreach?”

I thought about it.

“Honestly? I was tricked into it.”

She stared at me.

“Don’t you hate them?”

“I used to.”

“But I figured out pretty quickly that I was heading the right way.”

“I’d just been walking with the wrong people.”

The sun dropped behind the far edge of the testing ground.

Rows of equipment caught the last light, gleaming silver across the open desert.

Somewhere behind me, my team was calling me to dinner.

I called back and headed toward the center.

My phone buzzed.

My mom had sent a photo: the pear tree back home, in full bloom.

My dad had replied underneath: [Will you be home for the holidays?]

I typed back.

[I’ll be there.]

Then I slipped my phone back into my pocket.

When I was eighteen, four fake college applications sent me to Westreach.

They thought I’d suffer out here in the desert until I came crawling back.

I didn’t.

I found the path I was always meant to take.

And I finally understood something.

Walking away from people doesn’t mean you lost.

Sometimes it means pulling yourself out of a game you were never supposed to play.

I’m not anyone’s tagalong anymore.

I’m not the girl who got erased from the [Bellhaven Five].

I’m not someone standing around waiting for old friends to come back.

I am Mara.

I have my own name.

I have my own direction.

I have my own nine hundred miles of open road.

The End.