"I plan to still be drunk tomorrow."
"That's going to be a painful recovery."
"Nothing will torment me more than knowing you're someone else's wife."
The tears spill over. How could they not?
"Fuck, Daisy." His head hangs, and he grips it with his hands. "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to make this harder on you than it already is."
"Every second that brings me closer to being married I become more confused and sad and scared. It's the eleventh hour. What am I doing?" I swipe under my eyes. Sniff. Penn reaches for me, and I'm yearning to step into him, to feel soothed by him.
He thinks better of it, and drops his hands.
Something in my peripheral vision catches my eye, and I look up at my mother's window. There is nothing there, except perhaps a slight movement of her lace curtain, but maybe I'm imagining it.
Chapter 51
Olive Township
Sometimes I wishI could take physical shape. Arms and legs, a mouth and fingers.
If I could, I'd have stopped Penn from taking his mother's car that day, and Daisy from getting in the passenger seat. A flat tire would have kept the accident from ever occurring.
My abilities start and end with sitting, watching, and loving my inhabitants, and I was relegated to watching it unfold. I had no way to stop what I saw put into motion when Penn took his mother's keys from her purse.
It was hot that day, the kind of heat that soaks into concrete sidewalks and makes everything hotter. Late summer, and my residents were restless. I watched Daisy tell Penn she was dying for a soft serve ice cream cone, dipped in chocolate.If I don't have one, I'll perish. Those were her exact words.
Penn, who only ever wanted to make Daisy happy, was positive he could drive her to get ice cream.
Daisy argued, but Penn was insistent. Daisy refused to get in the car, but when Penn got behind the wheel, Daisy screeched and got in, too. She swore at him, but he smirked, and then she laughed and saidif you're going down, I'mgoing down, too.
I've seen it time and time again over the years. Young people never consider the consequences of their actions.
I watched Penn hit the curb on Olive Avenue, the car plowing into a store that had already closed for the day. Daisy's head hit the windshield, blood pouring down.
There was screaming, and crying, mostly from Penn.
My inhabitants are helpers, and I'm proud of that. They ran to the car, doing what they could.
Daisy's injury was the only one that day, but the shockwaves were felt long after.
Glenn Hampton, a man with a heart half the size it should be, stepped in. He'd been turning over the idea for awhile, and he knew this was the perfect time. Capitalizing on Charles St. James' fear for his daughter's safety, Glenn presented the perfect plan.
A whole new life for the Bellamy family, away from Olive Township. The money would come from Glenn, but the plan would be executed by Charles.
Glenn insisted he be the silent money, and refused to tell Charles why. Charles, distraught over his daughter's accident and injury, decided thewhydidn't matter.
I know Glenn'swhy.
He has a secret, which means I do, too.
Chapter 52
Penn
I pickedup a six-pack of beer and a bottle of tequila, settling in for a night of unhealthy soothing. If I get stupidly drunk, I'll forget the love of my life is marrying a guy I might actually like if I gave him a chance, but hate on principle.
I'm two beers deep, the bottle unopened on my counter, when there's a knock at my door. Slim Jim trots beside me to answer it.
