“Are you okay?” Kenny asks quietly the second the little girl disappears. “Where’s your sling?”
I sniff, looking down at my fingernails. They could use a trim. “I’m gonna be unfair again and ask you to be my friend and not Maddie’s sister for a minute.”
Kenny lets out a breath and even from my peripheral, I cansee the way her body slumps. She knows what’s coming. Maybe I can get out of saying it like I got out of it with Maddox. “Aus?—”
Shaking my head at her, I grab her hands and force myself to look up at her. She’s crying now, too, which only makes me start up again. “No, Ken. I’m not gonna spend this time fighting. I just wanted to say goodbye.”
“Goodbye?” she asks, voice breaking. Fuck.
“For now,” I amend quickly in hopes of combatting more tears. “Just for now. We’ll still text every day, FaceTime whenever you want. I’m sure we’ll visit each other too, eventually.”
Kenny sniffles and nods, using the sleeve of her hoodie to wipe at her eyes. It’s huge on her and I’d bet all hundred thousand of my dollars that it’s Theo’s.
“Where are you heading?”
“I don’t know yet,” I tell her truthfully. I’ve never really gotten this close to leaving before and a huge part of me always thought I never would. The plan was to just leave. Nothing outside of that. “But as soon as I get settled in a motel tonight, I’ll give you a call.”
“You can’t drive far,” she argues. “You’ve got broken ribs and a messed up shoulder. Just wait a couple more weeks until you’re healed all the way.”
I’m already shaking my head before she can finish. “No, Ken.”
“But—”
“No,” I say again, harsher this time. Her brows furrow, peeved at me now. That’s sort of what I was going for. As much as I hate it, if she’s mad at me, she won’t keep trying to stop me.
“Fine,” she grumbles, crossing her arms, her shoulders curving in. “Then I’m not going to pick up when you call tonight.”
I have to smile despite everything. They callmea brat. “I’ll call anyway.”
Kenny hums and it’s awkward suddenly. It’s time to go and yet…
Theo walks in from the back room, clearing his throat. Kenny turns and I watch the tension in her face relax. My stomach twists. Kenny’s gonna be just fine here without me. “Callie has to go potty and is insisting on waiting for you because ‘girls go to the potty in groups.’”
My best friend laughs and rolls her eyes fondly. She turns back to me and I smile sadly at her, reaching back out for a final hug. “Love you, Ken.”
“I love you, too, Aus,” she whispers, pressing her eyes against my shoulder. I can feel the wetness of her tears through my shirt. “Call tonight. I’ll answer, I promise.”
I nod and let her go. She turns on her heel, hand squeezing Theo’s forearm as she passes him to take Callie to the bathroom.
My eyes flick to Theo’s and it’s obvious by how he’s looking at me that he heard a good portion of our conversation. “You gonna rat me out?” I won’t make the mistake of underestimating how quick Maddox can catch up to me again.
He shakes his head, pulling off from where he was leaning against the wall. “Nah, that’s not my place,” he says. Relief and disappointment flood me in equal measures.
“Thanks.” Guess it’s time to go. I’m almost at the door when Theo speaks up again.
“You know, I’d give anything in this world, save Callie, to have my wife back for even a minute. Any amount of money, this store, anything.” I stop, hand on the push bar of the door. “Life is short and you’ve only got so much time on this planet with the people you love. You never know how much you have—sixty more years or sixty more seconds.”
I turn to look at him, holding back the bratty retort I’d like to throw out. He rewards me by continuing his little monologue.
“If you’re leaving Cedar Creek because you can’t stand it here after everything you’ve gone through, I think that’s fair. I think you deserve that peace. But if you’re leaving because yourdaddy taught you that men can’t love you without hurting you and you’re just trying to keep yourself safe from accepting Maddox’s love… well, then I just think you’re a coward.”
I sneer at him. He has a lot of fucking gall. I don’t know that I’ve ever spoken more than ten words to this man before today and he thinks he has the right to act like I’m just a little girl with daddy issues?
“And I thinkyou’rea coward. You might wanna take your own advice and stop taking Kenny for granted before she wises up and decides to stop playing step-mommy for a little girl whose daddy won’t let himself move on from a ghost.”
In hindsight, that was—potentially—a shitty thing for me to say. I leave before the guilt can catch me.
FIFTY-TWO
