I've never been more nervous in my entire life. I'm sitting in a metal folding chair at a metal table in a tiny room. Two federal agents are sitting across from me. One takes notes while the other asks question after question.

I keep going back to Julian, saying, "The key is in your boot; the locker is in your name." If only I'd hit record on my phone instead of just the flashlight, I didn't consider it at the time. Maybe I should've let Hunter and Oliver in with me. One of them would have I bet. 

"I had no idea!" I blurt out suddenly. "I didn't know about the cards until I found the bills. I didn't know about the locker or what he was doing... I swear."

"We are just gathering information right now, Miss Abbot," the talker assures me; the note-taker remains silent. Someone knocks on the door, and they both get up. One of them cracks the door open, talking to someone on the other end in a muffled voice.

"Miss Abbot, we are going to bring in Julian now, so my colleague will walk you back out to the lobby. Don't worry; we are bringing him in through a back door, so he won't see you. Don't leave yet; we may want to talk to you again," the man says, and I gulp.

Yeah, after Julian throws me under the bus!

I'm shaky and pale as the woman taking notes walks me to the lobby. The only thing that brings any comfort is Oliver sitting there, waiting. He sent Hunter back to the duplexes and came with me to make his own statement.

I nearly run to him, and he stands up quickly; all the day's stress hits me at once, and the tears spill down my cheeks.

"Come here," Oliver pulls me into his arms and holds me there. I bury my head against the crook of his shoulder, and he starts stroking my hair. He's quiet, letting me cry out for several moments.

"I have an attorney hired and ready to take a redeye in if needed," Oliver says as he releases me.

"What? An attorney!?" I cry out. "So, you're as worried as I am? You think I could get in trouble for this?"

"No, I don't," Oliver clasps my hands as he speaks quickly and calmly. "But, I have to take every precaution. That's why I called an attorney."

"But Julian is going to lie; he put the locker in my name, Oliver," as I speak, he pulls me towards the small sofa, forcing me to sit. I cross one leg over the other and tap it nervously.

"Listen to me, Kinsey. You called them right away and were honest. You hired me to pay the debts back, and I personally vouched for character" Oliver rattles off. "They have no reason to believe a crook like Julian over you."

"I know, but –"

"But you're panicking anyway, and you're overthinking, and in the next few minutes, you'll be running doomsday scenarios in your head."

"Yeah, pretty much my plan to the letter," I agree.

"We're going to be sitting here for a long time, and that's not how you're going to handle this," Oliver says calmly.

"So how am I supposed to handle it then?" I snap and then blanch at my own tone. "Sorry."

"Deja vu," Oliver chuckles.

"Only now it's me snapping," I sigh.

"No, I meant... that you said that to me once before," he says wistfully. "A long time ago..."

"Oh, my God!" Realization dawns on me. "Hunter's fifteen birthday when he shocked everyone by introducing Mary Beth as his girlfriend. I was about to lose my shit, and you said that's not how you handle this, Kinsey."

"And then you bit my head off," he chuckles.

"I know," I say sheepishly. "But it worked, your advice that day. You said chin up, get through the day and cry later, and that's exactly what I did, and you know what?"

"What?"

"I kept taking that advice my whole life."

"Yeah? So did I," Oliver says. "Everything I told you was stuff I was telling myself. Everything you were feeling back then, I was feeling, too, for you."

"I'm sorry you were hurting," I offer. "But still."

"You're upset. I knew what to say to make you stop hurting and Hunter too, but I didn't," Oliver correctly guesses.

"I think that's what bugs me the most," I confess. "You saw me crying and hurting over him so many times. Yet you didn't say a word."

"I know," he says. "And it's not an excuse, but not even a week after the dance. Mary Beth was his girlfriend, and I told myself I was right."

"I ain't going to hold choices made at fourteen against you, but, what about the summer of 2000?"

"I knew this was coming up," Oliver says quietly.

"We were almost sixteen then," I finish for him. "My crush on him was a lot more than a crush by that point."

"I know, but so was mine on you," he says.

"You called Hunter and told him you were going to confess that you loved me," I tell him. I don't ask, but he doesn't deny it; he simply nods.

"But that call came right after I told Brandi I was going to confess my feelings to Hunter," I prompt.

"... that timing wasn't a coincidence," Oliver admits, and a surge of anger causes my cheeks to flame up.

"So, you manipulated Hunter again, only this time it literally shattered my heart, Olly!"

He flinches." I know! And I'm sorry, but it wasn't... it wasn't all planned out like you think."

"Hunter thinks you lied about even planning to confess anything to me."

"Well, he's wrong!" Oliver cries out, and the lady from the front desk looks sharply at us.

He takes a breath and lowers his voice, "Look– when Brandi called me and told me it was going to happen, that you were going talk to Hunter, and I needed to move on. My first instinct was to do that; I swear," Oliver says. "But I couldn't. I sat there staring at the wall for hours, knowing I couldn't move on. My second instinct was to call you. Tell you how I felt, and then you'd know before you talked to Hunter. I thought I could move on if you still wanted to talk to him after you knew. Or at least try.

"But you didn't. You never talked to me," I point out. "You talked to Hunter instead."

"Because I couldn't tell you I loved you over the phone," he says. "You have to understand that much."

"I do. I get that," I say. "I was scared as hell to talk to Hunter, so I can't imagine what you were feeling."

"I needed to buy time until I got home, and so I told him I was going to confess my feelings for you when I got back from my dad's, and that time he did fight me on it."

"He did?"

"He tried," Oliver agrees. "He said he can't turn his feelings off, and he felt like you two were heading somewhere. It got a little heated actually, I think my friendship with him took a pretty big hit after this phone call, but I didn't care at that point."

"What did you say to get him to step aside?"

"We were too old for pacts at that point, so I said it's only fair I can tell you how I feel, first as I knew you longer, and I get it that a bullshit thing, but I was grasping at straws. I begged him to give me one chance to talk to you first, literally begged. It took some convincing, but he finally agreed, that I could talk to you first, and he would if and when you reject me."

Oliver pauses momentarily as that memory seems to hit him, and he smiles slightly. "We both assumed you'd reject us for the other."

"Yet I was never actually given the choice," I point out. "You never talked to me, and neither did he."

"I was going to, I swear. I meant it when I told him I was going to tell you I was in love with you. I was going to the day I came home, Kinsey, but then I saw your face."

"And you saw how heartbroken I was that day," I fill in. "I told you I loved Hunter on the day you were going to confess to me."

"To this day, I don't know how I held it together for you. Those words killed me, Love. I didn't think there was any hope for me after that," Oliver confesses. "That was when I finally decided to move on."

I gulp. It hurts me to know how bad he hurt in those early years of high school.

"Only I didn't really try to move on, because if I really wanted to, I'd have told you the truth. I almost did that day, but you stopped me. I gladly let you because I wanted to keep whatever window open I could."

I let out a long and shaky sigh.

"I'm not going to lie to you; I'm upset about all this," I tell him, and he nods. "I understand your reasons. I feel terrible that you were hurting, but I still find it unfair that I never knew I had the choice I did."

"Of course, you're upset about it. I don't blame you for that," Oliver says. "But I shouldn't be the only one you're upset with over that."

"You manipulated him."

"It doesn't matter," Oliver says. "He also could have taken all your hurt away with his truth, and he kept it from you. He can be as mad at me as he wants to be over all this, and so can you, but what's his excuse?"

"He felt like it would have undercut you to break his word so he couldn't, and then in his pain he started partying a lot and didn't think he deserved me anymore. But also, he didn't want to hurt or lose you or me as a friend. He was... well fuck he was scared." I let out a short laugh. "That's all our reason if you think about it. We were all scared of our huge feelings back then."

... and I'm still scared of mine today, so much for adulting, right?

"Yeah...we were," he agrees slowly. "Does that mean you forgive me for my part?"

"Forgive maybe isn't the right word," I say slowly. "You did what you did, and it's part of why Hunter and I never had our chance, but like you said, that was only your part. He also has his blame in this, and so do I. I don't think it's something I can forgive because I'm not angry. I'm just upset... finding it all out now."

"I don't blame you for being upset. I know I should apologize, but I'm not sorry."

"Doubling down on that?" I ask as I arch an eyebrow.

"I am, yes, because I still believe if I hadn't, we never would have happened. Even if we all had was that one great year, it was worth it."

"We were together for two years," I retort irritably as my cheeks heat up.

"I said what I said."

"Seriously!?"

"Some of 2002 was alright, I guess."

"Some of it? Are you serious?"

"Kinsey... all we did was fight. If not over college, over what to do about Brandi or Hunter and everything else. You said it yourself, we constantly snapped at and argued with each other."

"Not the entire year!" I huff out. "We were fine until you returned from your dad's in the summer of 2002."

"Don't remind me," he groans.

That was a huge fight, our first big one. Oliver got home a day earlier than planned and didn't call me to come pick him up at the airport. Not that it should've mattered, but I happened to be at Hunter's that day.

I'd found out right after Olly left that he and Erin had broken it off, mutually, when she found out she got into a modeling program that would start at the beginning of the summer. They had one last romantic evening together at and after Junior prom, then they officially called it quits. They wanted to end on a sweet note instead of a bitter one, so neither of them told anyone, and remained friendly after.

Hunter liked her a lot and was feeling down over it. I think he may have even been close to falling in love with her. When he confessed to me that he'd been hurting, naturally I wanted to comfort him. He and I spent pretty much every day together early that summer while Olly and Brandi were both gone, he at his dad's and Brandi was at her grandma's for that summer, seeking space to heal from Wade.

Fast forward to Olly coming home, finding me in Hunter's room watching a movie, and flipping out.

Sure, the door was closed, and I was lying on Hunter's bed, but he was on the floor on his bean bag chair, and we were just watching a movie, like we'd done a million times. Oliver was angry that Hunter and I spent so much time together that summer, and I was furious that my boyfriend of over a year didn't trust me.  Neither of us ever saw the other person's point.

We pretended like we resolved it. I promised I'd never hang out in Hunter's room alone like that. Oliver apologized for his reaction and jealousy, but we didn't really resolve it. That fight lingered between us from that day on. He continued to feel insecure, and I stayed irritated over his jealousy.

But still... "We had our issues, but you can't honestly say our second year was all bad, right?"

He lets out a small huff of air, "That was maybe a bit too far, but it wasn't great, Kinz. New Year's Day 2002 might've been our last actual good day, Kinsey."

"What? That's horrible, to say that!"

'It's true," he defends. "It's not all our fault. Brandi was assaulted and we were so focused on her, but for months after that... we stopped doing stuff for each other."

"We had to drop everything and be there for her."

"I know we did. I'm just saying it added to the issues we already had," Oliver says. "We even want to prom as a group, specifically for Brandi. Instead of it being about us."

"But we still had good memories for us that night," I remind him. "We danced in the library again, remember?"

He smiles sadly, "Of course I do, but then later we fought, and we spent the whole rest of the night pissed off at each other."

"You were unfair that night," I say. "I was happy that you asked Brandi to dance. Hell, I told you to ask her. Seeing her smile again after all those months was everything."

"Right, which is why I danced with her. You had no reason to dance with Hunter."

"It was one dance, one friendly dance that you made a huge deal of for nothing. Even Erin didn't care."

"Because they were basically breaking up that night anyway," Oliver says.

"Well, yeah, but..." I stop and sit up straighter. "Wait... How did you know they broke up that night?"

"You told me," Oliver says quickly.

I frown, "no, I didn't."

"Then Hunter must've," he said quickly, "does it matter now?

"No, I guess not."

"You weren't fair that night," Oliver says, "or any night you used Brandi as your reason for why I shouldn't be jealous of Hunter. "

"I disagree. I still think that was a fair argument. I accepted how close you and her were, I never got jealous, and I never got between you. You didn't give me the same courtesy with Hunter, and he was as much my best friend as Brandi was yours."

"I was never in love with Brandi. That's the difference."

"Are you sure about that?"

His eyes widen. "What...? Of course, I'm sure about that. I love her like a best friend and always will, but you know I didn't have feelings for her like you had for him."

I thought I knew that once, but now I'm not so sure. I don't know if he is either, honestly.

We're quiet for a while... both of us lost in old memories.

How long have they been questioning Julian anyway? I glance towards that door, seeing it still firmly closed. I hope they take him out of here in the back way. I don't want to see him after I called the police on him.

"You were really miserable the entire second half of our relationship?" I ask after some time.

"Not miserable," he says. "Not always, anyway. But we were a mess, and it sucked, I wish..."

"What?"

"I wish I wouldn't have fought with you so much," he says. "If I could go back knowing how it all ended. I'd have savored every second of 2002 like I did in 2001. I wouldn't have wasted a single minute fighting with you."

"Me neither," I agree.

"I'm sorry I let my jealousy make things so hard for us."

"And I'm sorry I didn't try harder to understand it, "I say. "I'm older now. I won't sit here and lie to you and say you didn't have a reason to be. But I will say I honestly didn't think you had reason to be then."

"I knew you," Oliver says. "Better than anyone, you could lie to yourself, but not me."

"But!" I say sharper. "Despite whatever feelings I was harboring. I loved you, Olly. I loved you, and it hurt every time you questioned that."

"Every time you made me question it, it hurt," he counters.

We exchange a sad smile that, as we both know, we can't change anything now.

"But to just leave like that... a text you sent me a goodbye text! You have been my best friend since birth and that... fuck, that broke me."

He flinches a deep pain in his eyes. "I broke myself, too. Kinz, that night..."

I lean in closer, but he stops as his eyes are full of pain.

"I know we need to talk about it," he continues. "But I can't... not yet, okay? I need to tell you about some things that night, but not right now. All this has me on edge as it is."

"Yeah... me too," I agree. "I'm not ready to face that night yet, either."

"But we will, soon," he says I nod slowly.

Ready or not, the memories are coming and they're going to hit us hard.

"You know what I realized the other day?"

"Hm?"

"We never fought in the barn. Every memory I have of us in there is sweet."

"We'll always have the barn," he says with a chuckle.

"Better then Paris," I giggle.

"Unless your dad ever takes it down," he adds.

"I'd kill him."

"Kinsey, at some point, he probably will," Oliver says. "We can't stop time from happening."

"Or go back..." I say dreamily, "But if we could, I'd go back to the Fourth of July 2001 and lock us up in the barn forever."

"I go back there all the time," he says softly, and our eyes lock as the air stills between us.

"Miss Abbot?" The federal agent's voice pulls us both abruptly from the moment.

Shit, I forget where we are and now, I'm a wreck again as I look at the man.

"Your ex-husband made a full confession," he says. "He made it clear that you didn't know anything about this."

"He did!?" My eyes well up again with tears; I thought he'd surely throw me under the bus. Maybe our marriage meant something to him despite losing himself to greed.

"He did. He will be working with us. He has a lot of information to share, but he is looking at some time."

"Wow," I whisper as I let this sink in. I am so relieved and maybe a tad grateful that he did right by me tonight, but at the same time, I meant what I said earlier, Julian and I are now done. When I leave her tonight, I'm finally going to block him and his family and cut that tie forever.

"We thank you, both of you, for all your help. You're free to go."

"Thank you so much," Oliver says as I stand there with tears falling down my cheeks.

"Kinz, it's okay!" Oliver assures me as the agent walks away.

"I know I'm just so... emotional. I... oh, Thank God!"

"I told you it'd be okay, didn't I?" Oliver's voice breaks, and I look up to see his eyes are teary, too.

"They'll let you out of the debts now, too," Oliver says. "They were part of his crimes, I'll make damn sure you don't pay a dime of that back, my first thing on my agenda tomorrow is getting them out of your name."

"Seriously!?" I gasp. "I won't have to lie awake anymore, wondering how I'll ever pay them?"

With that I start sobbing and he wraps me up tight, we stand there both crying as we cling to each other. It's a mix of relief and the emotional baggage from everything we discussed tonight hitting us all at the same time. He starts stroking my hair and kissing the top of my head, and I'm wrapping my arms as tightly around his neck as I can get them.

Finally, we start to part, but just slightly as our teary gazes are locking each other in place.

He brushes the wetness away from my cheeks with the pads of his thumbs.

"Kinsey," he whispers.

"Olly?" His old name hangs between us like a question in the air, and the answer comes to us in the form of his mouth covering mine.

*Hides from Team Hunter this time (I warned y'all about the messy roads, and more messy is coming LOL)

So, Olly and Kinz took my pen away as they started talking here, and that was a LOT of info to take in! Can't wait to read all your thoughts about it!

The reference to Olly comforting Kinsey at Hunter's 15th birthday party is a NEW FB chapter in Roots of Our Past (chapter 4). AND All this extra stuff, like JR prom, that summer fight, college fights and ALL of that will be in that book!

As far as remaining flashbacks go, there are two more I need to tell. However, I think I will be telling them as 'memories' within present-day chapters instead of them being their own chapters. That gives me more freedom later when writing the chapters later for Roots, too.