As we strolled along the street, I glanced down at her boots. “When in the hell did you buy those?”

She stopped and looked at her boots. She peeked up at me and smiled. “These? Hell, I bought these the same day you told me we were moving to Texas. I needed an excuse to buy them, and you gave it to me.”

I thought back to the day I’d checked out of the hospital. Courtney and I had gone to the apartment I shared with Roger to pack up my stuff, and we’d only taken the things I needed, leaving behind my favorite pair of cowboy boots. Really, they were the only pair I’d owned.

New York

A Few Weeks Earlier

As I opened the door to the apartment that I shared with Roger, my heart was pounding, my body ached, and my head had never hurt so much in my life. I knew Roger wouldn’t be home, but I was still scared shitless. Courtney had told me she would meet me and help me get the items I needed.

Walking around the apartment, I looked around at everything. I couldn’t care less about any of it. I stopped and picked up a picture of Roger and me on graduation night.

We look so happy. What happened to us? What did I do to make him treat me like this? I never could make him happy.

I jumped when I heard someone knocking on the door.

“Whit, it’s me!” Courtney yelled.

I ran to the door, opened it, and pulled her inside.

“Shit, Court! Be quiet. He might have told one of the neighbors to call him if I came home early. We better move fast. We just need to grab the most important shit.”

Courtney nodded. “Got it. I’ll get your clothes, and you get your shoes.”

She took off up the stairs, and I couldn’t help but laugh at what she thought was important and what I thought was important.

I walked over to my desk and took important files I would need. I found some boxes and just started dumping files, photos and my laptop into them. I took a box up to Courtney and told her to grab all my stuff out of the bathroom.

By the time the closet and bathroom were empty, the home phone began ringing. We both stopped and stood still as we listened to it ring. Once it stopped, we looked at each other.

“Fuck!” we both said at the same time.

“Go, Court! Just start putting it all into your car. If we can’t get it to fit in your Beemer, just leave it.”

Courtney smiled. “Oh, honey, I went and bought myself a truck.”

I stopped and turned to look at her. “What? When in the hell did you buy a truck?”

“Last night, after I left the hospital. I just stopped at the Toyota place and said I wanted the most loaded, tricked-out bitch they had.”

I shook my head and started grabbing shit to take out to her truck.

By the time we were done, we had my clothes in the backseat and all the boxes in the bed of the truck. I ran up to the apartment one more time to take one last look around. I felt sick to my stomach, thinking of all the times I’d allowed him to treat me the way he had.

Never again. I’ll never let another man ever lay one finger on me.

The phone started ringing again. I walked up to it and picked it up, but I didn’t say a word.

“Hello? Whit? Baby, are you home already? Why didn’t you tell me they’d released you early?”

I started shaking. I always knew he had the neighbors watching me, making sure I wasn’t doing anything he wouldn’t approve of.

I didn’t say a word. I hung up the phone. I took the ring off my left finger and set it down next to the car keys. I picked up the picture of us at Martha’s Vineyard from two years ago. I set it on the table and picked up the paperweight sitting next to it. I smashed it down on top of the picture, shattering the glass part of the frame.

“You thought you could break me into pieces that you could control. You thought you could beat me down to nothing…well, not anymore. You’ll never control me again.”

I turned and walked out, knowing I would never return to New York City again. I would never again let anyone tear me down like he had. As I walked into the elevator, memories of Roger, good and bad, flooded my mind. I’d always been so afraid I would let him down. Every day, I had done nothing but walk on eggshells around him…but not anymore.

As the door to the elevator opened, I exited, standing taller, as I walked with my head raised and a smile on my face. Tim, the doorman, grinned when he saw me walking up to him. I’d usually kept my head down and never looked at anyone.

“Miss Reynolds, you look like a new woman.”

I smiled bigger. “I am, Tim. Today is the first day of my new life.”

He nodded. “I’m glad to see you happy. You deserve it, Miss Reynolds. I hope you find happiness, and I hope it’s far from here.”

I stopped and looked at him, stunned by his response.

How many people knew?

I smiled and nodded before turning and walking up to Courtney’s new truck.

After I got in and shut the door, she had the biggest smile on her face.

“All right, baby girl. Are you ready to get your country on?”

I started laughing as she handed me a Diet Coke.

She held up her drink to mine as she started to make a toast. “To leaving behind the past and starting a new life. To forgetting about a**hole men who don’t know a good thing when they see it.”

“Amen! To being done. I’m done with being treated like I’m nothing because I am something.”

“Fuck yeah, you are. Are we done here?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

I picked up Court’s iPod and found a song I’d put on there about six months ago. Once she took off driving, I hit the play button.

Courtney looked at me. “Hell yeah!”

We started singing along with Carrie Underwood’s “Undo It,” and I’d never felt so free in my life as we took off down the road to start my new life. We noticed people waving from the cars around us. Court kept waving back as we sang along to my new theme song.

“Wow! Who knew New Yorkers were so damn friendly? Sing it, Whit!”

As we headed up the road on our way to my parents’ house, more and more people were honking and waving at us.

“My God, they act like they’ve never seen two hot girls singing in a truck!” Courtney said with a laugh.

Then, she looked in the rearview mirror. “Oh shit!”

The next thing I knew, Courtney was pulling over on the side of a bridge. She parked the truck, looked at me, and busted out laughing.

“What? What’s so damn funny, Court? And why are we pulled over? Let’s go. The farther we are away from him, the better.”

She turned to me with tears running down her cheeks.

“Oh my God. Are you crying or laughing?”

She finally got herself under control enough to start talking. “Whit, all those people were honking and waving because they were trying to tell us that we had shit blowing out of the back of the truck!”

I turned and looked in the bed of the truck. All I saw were pads and tampons everywhere. I snapped my head back to Courtney, and we both busted out laughing.

“Oh. My. God! My pads and tampons were flying out of the truck!”

After we laughed for a good fifteen minutes, she started driving again. As Court pulled back out into traffic, the only thing she could say was, “That has to be a good sign of the happier times to come!”

We both lost it again and laughed practically all the way to upstate New York.

Chapter Six: Layton

I pulled up and parked a little ways down from Joe’s. I wasn’t sure how I felt about seeing Kevin. He would just be a reminder of what happened to Mike. I put my head on the steering wheel and just sat there for a minute.

Fuck, Mike. Why did you leave me? You promised me you’d be okay. You promised me, Mike.

I sat back and took in a deep breath. I regretted telling Reed I would come out tonight. I looked up and saw two girls walking, one in a short white dress and the other in jeans. I couldn’t really see who they were because it was already dark, but one kind of looked familiar.

I jumped when someone started banging on my window. I turned and saw Bill Bishop standing outside my truck. I grabbed my hat and opened the door.

“Shit, dude. You scared the piss out of me,” I said as I reached out for his hand.

“Layton f**king Morris. How in the hell have you been?”

I laughed as he grabbed me around the neck and pulled me closer.

Jesus, he’s drunk already.

“How’s Austin, Bill? You ready to move back to Llano?” I asked as we headed toward Joe’s.

He shook his head and laughed. “Hell no, I don’t want to move back. God, Layton, how do you take it? I’d want to leave and start a new life in a new town.”

My smile faded for just a second. “Nah, I love it here. I love the country living, and I made a promise to my brother. I won’t ever break that promise.”

Bill looked over at me, and then he slapped the shit out of me on my back. “You’re a stand-up guy, Layton. Now, come on, I need to get laid tonight. Please tell me this town has some new damn girls. I heard two knock-out beauties just moved here a few weeks ago.”

I grabbed his arm and made him stop. “What? Who in the hell told you that? Who are they?”

Bill looked shocked when I started playing twenty questions.

“Um…Richard. He said they were new in town…city girls from…ah hell, where was it?”

“New York?”

Bill smiled and pointed his finger at me. “That’s it. Richard said he’s bound and determined to get in the pants of the one he has set his sights on. Guess she’s been coming into the bank a lot. Richard just keeps talking about getting a piece.”

The anger I was feeling was about to boil over. I grabbed Bill by the shirt and got in his face. “Don’t f**king talk about her like that.”

Bill glared at me and then pushed me away. “Jesus, Layton. What in the hell? Do you know this girl or something? If you got dibs, take it the f**k up with him.”

I shook my head. Motherfucker, what is wrong with me? I don’t even like Whitley that way.

“Ah hell, Bill, I’m sorry. My emotions are running crazy. I think I’m just nervous to see Kevin, and you know…all those memories.”

Bill gave me a weak smile. “Dude, you need to get drunk and then get laid. Forget about all of it. Forget about Olivia. You don’t need that shit.”

“Yeah…I just need a drink. Let’s go.”

The closer we got to the bar, the more my heart started pounding. If I’d been walking alone, I would’ve turned and left.

As soon as we walked in, Thomas Rhett’s song “Something to Do with My Hands” started playing. The hairs on my neck rose up, and I knew it was nerves from seeing Kevin. I took a quick look around.

Misty waved to me from behind the bar, and I gave her a weak smile. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a white dress. I turned to see Whitley talking to Richard.

Fuck me. She looks amazing.

One more look around, and I saw Courtney standing at the bar, ordering drinks.

“Holy shit. Look at the blonde at the bar. I always did like girls with that blondish-red hair.” Bill slapped me on the back again and smiled at me. “Sorry, dude. We’ll have to catch up later.”