All Dad said was that he's dead before the rain came down on me. Why can't I get the nerve to tell her? I set my phone down and started to drive.

"I promise I'll call from your house."

"You know something. Is he dead? That's all I want to know." She said.

Just then my phone dinged through a text message, and I heard her gasp.

Fuck!

"Stop the truck, now!" She yelled.

She threw off her shoes, and I stopped the truck. "Give me a minute." She hopped down from the truck, and I picked up my phone. Son of a bitch! Dad sent photos of a man that's unrecognizable.

I threw the phone and hopped out of the truck. "Joey, you shouldn't have seen that!"

She was on the ground crying.

"How did they do it?" She cried, as the rain-drenched her.

"I don't know yet." I kneeled down next to her. "After what he did to our daughter and to you, he deserved what he got."

"You don't think I know that, Hudson? I gave the order, and I have to live with that for the rest of my life!" She cried.

"Yeah, your life, Joey! You've sacrificed enough!'

She stood and looked straight at me. "I'll never be free!"

"Why? Why do you keep saying that, dammit!"

"Because of you!" She yelled.

"I have no idea what I've done!" I yelled back.

"You hold my heart and soul in your hands, Hudson! You have since I was seventeen, and you're going to go back to Hannah!"

I paced. "Why does it keep coming back to her and Jake? He's my son too, Joey!"

"What do you want from me, Hudson? Why are you still here with me?" She cried.

"Because I fucking love you, Joey! I love our children, but most of all, it's you! I've never lived a day not loving you!" I said. "It's always been you!"

"Yet, you're leaving! I do not expect you to leave your son for us! You'll go back and live with your family, because that's what they deserve!" She cries.

She turned away from me, but I turned her around and she looked at me. "I'll never go back to Hannah! Do you really think I'd walk away from you and go back to a woman I could never love?" I cupped her face. "You are, and always will be, my first and last love. I'm dying inside every single time I feel your touch or see that smile. You're slowly killing me, and I keep thinking you're going to disappear again! I can't give myself to you, because I won't survive when you decide I'm not the guy you fell in love with years ago."

The rain pours over us.

"You're right, and I'm not that girl!"

"Why can't you just let go?" I asked.

"I'll never let go of you!" She said.