Some People Stay

Amelia sat in the chair in Dr. Sullivan’s office. She couldn’t believe that it had been almost a year since David had died. Tomorrow would be the one year anniversary. She had continued to go to therapy sessions this entire time, mostly to appease Bridget and Jonathan who wanted her to keep getting help. She had to admit the medication and the therapy sessions had been helping, but she wished she could see if she could continue on her own at this point.

“Jon is coming into town today,” Amelia told Carly, who had just asked her if she had plans for the weekend.

“You two doing anything special?” Carly asked.

Amelia shook her head. “Probably just hanging out with Bridge. I don’t think he’s going to be here for too long. But, then again, last time we didn’t think he would either, and he ended up staying til the end of the summer,” she added with a chuckle.

“And, how are the three of you doing?” Carly asked. One of the things that Amelia had opened up about in therapy had been her relationship with Jonathan and Bridget. It had changed over the past several months, but in the end, they had figured it all out. Bridget had admitted that she was becoming jealous of the developing friendship between her and Jonathan, and that she was feeling left out. After that, Amelia had become more conscious of how she acted, and everything had ended up working out for all of them.

“Good,” Amelia nodded her head.

“And, how are you feeling about tomorrow?” Carly continued, changing topics, one that Amelia had wished to stay away from. She knew that she was going to break down as soon as she started talking about it.

And, just as she had thought, the tears began streaming down her face before she even got the first word out. “It’s going to be bad. But, I’m going to go to the cemetery.”

“Is Jon or Bridget going to go with you?”

Amelia shrugged her shoulders. “They’ll probably want to, but I kinda want to go on my own.”

They continued talking for another half an hour, with Carly giving her tips on how to handle the situation. She told her she wasn’t expecting her not to be upset or not to cry, but she was actually giving her tips on how to go about it when those things did happen.

Amelia left, feeling a little bit better, a little bit more in control of what was going to happen the following day.

That night, Jonathan arrived in Nashville, and he, Bridget, and Amelia sat down for dinner. He told them all about what had happened throughout the season, even though he had talked to both of them regularly. They talked about everything except David, both Bridget and Jonathan not wanting to bring him up. They knew it was a difficult subject for Amelia, especially with it almost being the anniversary of his death.

After they had finished eating, Amelia excused herself, going up to her room to go to bed for the evening. The next morning, she woke up early, just when the sun was rising, and she was happy when she went down to the living room to see no one else was up yet. She decided now was the time to go to the cemetery, so she could get there and be by herself at the gravesite.

As she got to the cemetery, she couldn’t help but recall everything that had happened in the past year, from hearing about David’s death to the funeral to going to this exact place and having a breakdown, needing Jonathan to come rescue her. As she got out of the car, she grabbed the flowers she had brought and walked over to David’s site. She bent down, laying the flowers on top, already beginning to feel tears in her eyes.

“David,” she began quietly, her voice straining from the tears. “I wanted to be strong for you. I didn’t want to cry, but obviously that isn’t going to happen,” she spoke to him. “I miss you so much. There isn’t a day go by that my heart isn’t throbbing for you. I still want to be with you, but I now know that you would never want me to do that. You’d want me to stay here and live my life. But, I miss you, David. You’re the love of my life, and I’m never going to move past you. You’re always going to be in my heart. Always.”

She began to cry harder as she let her knees sink into the grass. She was so consumed in her thoughts and emotions that she didn’t even realize that other people had come to the gravesite as well. She looked up to see two people, one on each side of her, and they bent down so they were on the ground with her. “What are you guys doing here?” she asked in between her tears.

“We thought you could use the company,” Bridget spoke, and Amelia nodded her head, leaning over, resting her head in Bridget’s chest, allowing her sister to wrap her up in her arms. She felt Bridget rub her back, and soon she felt Jonathan’s hand on her back as well, trying to comfort her.

“I miss him so much,” Amelia cried.

“I know you do,” Bridget spoke quietly and soothingly to her sister. “I miss him, too. He was a great guy,” she smiled, though her sister couldn’t see her. “He’d be so proud of you, though,” she continued. “For how you’ve handled everything, how you’ve continued to live your life even though he’s not here. But, you know he’s looking down on you right now. And, he’s smiling, Amy. He’s so proud of you. And, he loves you so much.”

Amelia leaned back a little bit so she could look up at Bridget. “Thank you,” she spoke sincerely. She knew that Bridget had no idea how much those words meant to her right now. She gave her sister a tight hug before releasing her, rubbing at her eyes, trying to push the tears away.

“Oh! I forgot the flowers in my car! I’ll be right back!” Bridget said, standing up, and walking back to her car, leaving Jonathan with Amelia in the meantime.

“Thanks for coming here, Jon. It means a lot to me,” Amelia spoke, giving him a soft smile. She scooted over in the grass so she was sitting next to him. She leaned over and wrapped her arm around him, giving him a half hug. He wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head.

“I wouldn’t be any place else,” he assured her. “And, you know that Bridge was right when she said David would be proud of you, right? I never really knew him, but I know he loved you. He still loves you.”

“Thanks, Jon,” Amelia said, smiling up at him. Bridget had come back and set the flowers down next to the ones that Amelia had brought. She sat back down on the other side of Amelia, and Amelia looked at the two of them. “Thank you guys,” she told them sincerely. “I couldn’t have made it through this year without you two.”

Bridget reached over and gave her a hug, while Jonathan kept one hand on Amelia’s back. “We’ll be here for the next fifty years for you, too,” Bridget assured her.

Amelia looked back at the tombstone, staring at David’s name. She wished she could bring him back, but she knew there was no way she could do that. Instead, she could only live her life, and she was fortunate enough to have the two people beside her that helped her do just that.