My lips part as I gaze up at him. He's not playing a game with me right now. The articles and photos flash in my mind. Colton had suffered massive head trauma, and he was in a coma. The articles weren't specific enough for me to get the whole picture, but now it occurs to me that he must have suffered some type of memory loss. "You really don't know who I am?" I ask him.
He shakes his head.
"Oh." My face crumbles as I try to rein in my emotions. "I'm Penny," I say, hopeful that my name will spark some type of recognizable memory with him.
His grip on my arm loosens suddenly. "Penny." He moves away from me and towards the tree, his fingers lingering over the carving that we did when we were kids --- our initials inside of a big heart with the word forever underneath. He whispers, "C.J.C and P.L.P."
"Colton James Crawford and Penny Lane Preston," I whisper.
"Preston," he says the name as if he's tasting it. "You're the mayor's daughter?"
I nod.
"So that makes us neighbors," he says wryly. He stares at the carving for a long time, and it gives me a moment to think. He has no idea who I am. He doesn't remember me. I pull the folder closer to my chest, feeling a deep-rooted pain spread through me. It feels like my heart was just ripped out of my chest. A whimper escapes my lips, and he quickly turns to me with furrowed brows. Running a hand through his hair, he sighs in frustration. "Look…I'm --- I'm sorry about earlier. I was a complete dick. And I feel really bad about what I said and did."
I have a feeling that it's very difficult for him to apologize, so I accept his apology earnestly. "It's okay," I whisper.
He shakes his head. "No, it's not." He looks up at the blanket of stars filling the night sky. "I just get so angry sometimes. I can't control it." His head drops as he looks at me once more. "But if we did know each other, if we were friends or whatever in the past, I'm sorry I treated you like that. You didn't deserve it."
I sink my teeth into my bottom lip and nod once. We were so much more than friends, but I can't tell him that right now. The words alone might kill me. I feel the tears threatening to fall once more, so I quickly say, "I should go."
"Penny?"
The way he says my name is almost my undoing. I just want to run to him and jump in his arms like old times. I want him to hold me and tell me everything's going to be all right and that the rest of the world doesn't matter just like he used to. I want the past five years to just disappear. I want myold Coltonback.
"I'm sorry I can't remember you," he says quietly.
I nod once more and turn away from him. I slowly walk back to my parents' house, feeling completely and utterly numb. It's like the entire world, as I knew it, has come crashing down around me. I feel like I've woken up in an absolute nightmare. How did so many things change over the short span of five years? Standing in the driveway, I stare up at my parents' house. I can't go back in there and face them. I'm too upset and way too angry, and I know I'll say things I'll regret later. So, instead, I go to my car and slide into the backseat. I hug the folder to my chest and fall asleep crying for Colton, for the brother he lost, for me…and for us.
* * * * *
THE NEXT MORNING, I'm woken up by a rapping sound. I sit up, startled by my surroundings. I barely remember even falling asleep in the backseat of my car. I glance to my left, and my father has a sad smile on his face as he gives me a small wave through the rear window.
"Can I come in?" he asks.
I reluctantly open up the door, and he crawls in to sit beside me. "How are you feeling, sweetheart?"
"Betrayed," I answer, not bothering to pull any punches with my dad. He would see right through me anyway.
"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you. Your mother convinced me that it was for the best, and I can obviously see now that it wasn't."
We sit in silence for a while before I say, "I went to the willow tree last night. Colton was there." I hesitate. "He doesn't remember me, Dad."
My father sighs heavily. "The brain injury completely wiped out his long-term memory. He only remembers the accident and everything after it. They had to teach him everything all over again, even how to feed himself…how to walk. It was a long process."
"And I wasn't here," I say, my voice cracking with emotion.
"I know. I know. I'm sorry." He pulls me into his arms and holds me tight. "Colton's dad passed away last year, so it didn't make matters any better."
That's news to me as well. No one even told me about William's death. William was always like a second dad to me. He always called me the daughter he never had. He taught me how to fish, how to ride a bike, how to curse --- much to the dismay of my uptight and controlling parents. My parents were good parents. Don't get me wrong. They provided for me. They clothed me, fed me, made sure I had a good education and almost everything a kid could want. They just weren'tthere. So many missed moments and opportunities all for the sake of campaigns and award ceremonies and all the other duties that come along with being mayor. I always felt like I was put on the backburner with them; and as a kid, I resented them for it. Maybe I still do.
Colton's family was fun and one of a kind. His mother taught me how to bake and cross-stitch before she died way before her time. I was at the Crawfords' house more than my own growing up. They were my second family. And now I not only lost Colton, but I lost ConnorandWilliam. Connor was the little brother I never had and never wanted, but, God, I loved him more than anything.
Eight years ago I was there for Colton's mom's funeral after she passed away from a long battle with cancer. Colt and I just held each other almost every second of every day for a week, never wanting to let the other go. I was there for him. I wasalwaysthere.
I curl my arms around my waist, feeling even more devastated than I was yesterday. So many lies. So many hidden truths. If only I had come home years ago, maybe none of this would have happened. Maybe I could have changed things somehow.
My dad holds me tighter when he sees me withdrawing into myself. "Colton's had a rough go at it over the past several years. He's lost his entire family."
