All These Years

Rio took a deep breath before knocking on the door. The address Jen had given her was burned into her memory, repeated like a mantra on the long drive from New York to Westview, New Jersey. The house was elegant, white and blue, the kind of place Agatha would have chosen—practical, refined, and fiercely private.

She waited, heart pounding against her ribs. The years had slipped away too fast, and now, standing here, she felt the weight of every single one of them. She looked at the light mark on her finger where her wedding ring used to sit. She had taken it off four months ago when the divorce proceedings started, but it still felt weird. Doubt gnawed at her. What if Agatha refused to even listen?

The door creaked open. And there she was.

Agatha Harkness stood in the dim doorway, backlit by the soft glow of a lamp inside. Her silver-streaked hair was pulled into a loose knot, and she wore a soft, oversized sweater, sleeves pushed up to her elbows. Rio had imagined this moment a hundred times, but nothing could have prepared her for the look in Agatha’s eyes.

Shock, disbelief… and then, just as quickly, a cold detachment.

“Jennifer gave me your address,” Rio said quickly, before Agatha could slam the door. “I just wanted to... I mean, I know it's been long, but I needed to see you, to talk to you.”

A beat of silence. Then Agatha’s lips curled—not in a smile, but something sharper, something bitter, a sneer.

“Wow... fifteen years too late.”

And just like that, the door closed in her face.

Rio exhaled, pressing her hands against the wood for a brief moment before letting them fall to her sides. She hadn’t expected a warm welcome, but the finality in Agatha’s voice stung more than she was willing to admit.

---

Agatha slid down to the floor, her back pressed against the door. Her fingers curled against the fabric of her sweater, gripping it as if to steady herself. She squeezed her eyes shut, but it was useless.

Fifteen years gone, and at the mere sound of Rio’s voice, memory rushed in like a flood.

First day of class.

Agatha was so excited for the new semester. She was a freshman, doing an English Major at NYU. It was her dream and her chance to be the hell away from her mother. She had taken the full-ride scholarship without so much as blinking, and the buzz of finally starting classes was making her antsy. She had arrived early, her notebook open, pen twirling between her fingers.

Then the professor walked in, and behind him—

Her. The English Lit TA.

Tall, confident, effortlessly magnetic. Her dark curls framed her sharp features, and when she smiled, it was like a secret meant just for you. She carried herself like she belonged everywhere and nowhere all at once.

Agatha felt her throat go dry.

It was utterly ridiculous. She had never been the type to get flustered, especially not over someone she had barely met. But when Rio Vidal stepped to the side, arms crossed, scanning the room with a lazy sort of amusement, Agatha knew.

She was in trouble.

Agatha remembered how she had tried to ignore the pull, had kept her head down and taken meticulous notes, as if that would somehow drown out the awareness creeping up her spine. But when class ended and she gathered her things, she looked up—only to find Rio looking right back at her.

And then she smiled.

Not just a passing, polite smile, but something knowing, something deliberate. As if she had already decided Agatha was someone worth noticing.

Agatha’s stomach had flipped in a way she wasn’t proud of.

---

The knock on the door startled Agatha out of her haze. Her fingers unclenched from the hem of her sweater, and she inhaled sharply, composing herself before opening it again.

Rio was still there. Of course she was.

"You threw me away," Agatha said, her voice quieter this time, but no less cutting. "And now it's too late. It has been too late for years. I don't know what you expected, Rio, but I'm not a teenager looking to be accepted anymore. Please go away. I'm happy with my life."

Rio's jaw tightened. "You once promised to wait for me."

Agatha let out a humorless laugh. "Well, that's one broken promise of mine against... how many of yours now? Don't worry, you still win by a landslide."

She shut the door again, this time without hesitation.

---

The ocean air was cold against Agatha's skin, but she barely felt it. The Sea Isle City gazebo stood unchanged, an echo of a past life. The wood creaked softly under her weight as she sat on the bench, staring at the dark waves rolling under the moonlight.

She shouldn’t have come here. She knew that. But old habits died hard. After Rio showed up on her house, nothing seemed clear anymore except the desire to come to this place. A place that had been theirs, a sanctuary. Somewhere they went to escape everyone so they could steal moments together.

Her mind drifted, as it always did when she was here, back to the last time she and Rio had met in this very spot. The night everything had truly fallen apart.

"I can't do this anymore," Agatha had said, her voice trembling with exhaustion. "You cannot have us both. I need you to choose right now... Don't you love me?"

Rio's expression had been wrecked. "I do, I love you."

"Then you have to leave him. Let's be together, us. Without you running away, without you leaving me behind. Be truly together!"

Rio hesitated. "Agatha... My parents, my family... You know I... I told you why..."

Agatha had swallowed back the ache in her throat, her resolve hardening. "I can't do this, Rio. I'm not going to. I'm not a choice you're willing to make, so this time, I'm the one who's going to walk away."

She had turned her back on her great love that night, and she had never looked back.

Until now.

"Why are you here, Rio?" Agatha asked, forcing her voice to be steady as she turned toward the approaching footsteps.

Rio tried for a joke, a wry smile tugging at her lips. "It's a public space."

Agatha scoffed, already rising to leave. 

"I know I'm late. So many years too late. At least ten years, if we're counting our last text message. But I'm here, Agatha. Give me one more chance. Please."

Agatha looked her deep in the eyes, searching for something she wasn't sure she even wanted to find. "Did you really think I'd be waiting all these years for you to change your mind and come back to me? Don't you remember anything we talked about? My dreams of having a spouse, kids... Did you think I'd just sit and wait for you to come and make all of it come true, Rio? And now you expect... what? I just throw myself in your arms, grateful that you finally realized we were supposed to be forever? That he didn't give you the love and support you deserved, and I was the one who actually was there for you and loved you through all your ups and downs, and just take you back so we can pick up where we left off?"

Rio blinked, looking at Agatha's bare fingers. "You're married?"

Agatha just looked at Rio with contempt. "You're an idiot," she said, and walked away.

As she left, she heard Rio saying, "I'll be here tomorrow, and the day after that and as many days as it takes, Agatha. I'll wait for you."