EVER TRUE - TEASER

Riley

He’d seen her die more times than he cared to admit. Every time he witnessed her death, a fresh wound would rip open. It became so overwhelming that he’d stopped meditating, refusing to watch it happen again.

Yet, no matter how much he tried to avoid it, there was no escaping. The vision taunted him.

He remained silent as he let the thought play out. Her death on the road at the edge of Cedar Falls; taken out by [redacted]. He exhaled, almost doubling over from the pain of it.

The scent of garlic mixed with parmesan wafted by.

“Excuse me,” someone said, gently tapping against the table.

Riley straightened as if waking up from a trance. Blinking, he washed the vision away, eyes drifting to his hands; a pencil in one and a pad with Jimmy’s Italian logo in the other.

“I’ll have the spaghetti. Can I get that with parmesan, please?”

“Ooh, sounds good, make that two.”

Riley scrawled their order and collected the menus. As he headed for the door, he glanced over his shoulder and looked across the street, only to find Leila’s eyes locked on him. His heart dropped.

Sometimes he felt like he was already grieving her. Yet, there she was, full of life, looking right at him.

She spun her body in a full 180 and, without turning back, led Taj around the corner.

No matter what, he’d already lost her.