I give him a small shrug. "I'll figure it out." I open the passenger's side door. "Bye, Buddy."
"Bye, Penny."
Shelby Rae is practically sobbing as she puts the car in drive and pulls out of the parking lot. "Are you okay to drive?" I ask.
"No," she cries, "but I'm gonna do it anyway."
I reach over and gently rub her back as she cries. "We need to make a promise right here and now. Promise to keep in touch. Don't let the distance stop us from being friends."
"Agreed," she says with a sob.
* * * * *
COLTON
PENNY IS GONE.
She's fuckin' gone.
Forever.
My hands slam into the punchin' bag over and over again. My muscles scream in protest from the physical exertion, but I can't stop. I need to get all of this anger out of me before I fuckin' explode.
"Colton," says a voice from the doorway.
I know it's Buddy, but I don't want to hear his bullshit right now. "Go away, Buddy," I say before landin' a right hook into the bag. The wooden beam above that the bag is attached to groans as I continue to land blow after blow.
"Penny's goin' to New York. She's gonna marry that asshole Tucker Hayward and be miserable for the rest of her life, and you don't fuckin' care?"
"Not now, Buddy!" I yell, growlin'. I punch the bag one last time before taking a step back. "She's gone, and there's not a goddamn thing I can do about it!" I hiss through gritted teeth.
"She just left. She just left ten minutes ago, Colt. You can run after her. That's what the hell you can do!"
"And tell her what exactly? I don't remember you, but come back to town so we can torment each other for the rest of our lives?"
"You didn't see her right before she left, Colt. I've never seen her like that before." He shakes his head sadly. "Shit." He wipes a tear away from his face, and I stand there in stunned silence. I've never seen Buddy cry before. "She was devastated…completely broken." He frowns and looks up at me with narrowed eyes. "Because of you."
I run my wrapped hands through my hair and pull at the ends. "I don't know what you expect me to do, Buddy. You told me just a few days ago that I need to let her go. So I let her go!"
"I also told you to get your shit together, but I don't see that happenin'!" he growls.
Frustrated, I start unwrappin' my hands. "Yeah, well, that probably will never happen, Buddy. You know that as well as I do. I died in that lake that night along with Connor." A large part of me doesn't want to go on with life because Connor died. "I should have died that night instead of him." I never uttered those words out loud before to anyone, but they ring true.
"Do you really think Connor would have wanted you to sulk and throw your life away like this?" Buddy asks, exasperated. "If it were the other way around, would you want Connor to live with all that guilt, never wantin' to remember his life before the crash and never bein' truly happy?"
I curl my hands into fists at my sides. Buddy's right, but I'm not gonna tell him so. I wouldn't want Connor to carry this burden around. I would want him to live and be happy. But Connor is dead, and it's me who's alive. I shake my head and walk past Buddy. He's hot on my heels as I make my way towards the house. I throw myself into an old rockin' chair on the porch, and Buddy goes in the house. A few minutes later, he returns with two cans of cold beer. We crack them open at the same time and drink in silence.
My eyes scan the yard, and they rest upon somethin' that wasn't there earlier. An oval stone is restin' above the place where we buried Mack. "What's that?"
Buddy follows my gaze. "Penny left it."
I stand and walk over to the grave. A memorial stone is restin' on top of the dirt. The words written on the stone repeat over and over again in my mind.You will forever be in our hearts, and we will remember you there always.
That's exactly how it is with Penny. Even if my brain can't remember her, my heart just can't seem to forget. I wonder if she knew what she was doin' when she picked out those words. It's almost like a sign.
"When…When did she put that here?" I ask Buddy when he leans against the big shade tree.
"Right before she said goodbye to you."
