Penny paused, trying to gauge his willingness to continue sharing. “Is it okay if I ask why they split up?”
Daniel glanced again at Eva — and with a start, Penny realized that not only was he very aware that he was being filmed, he most likely had zero interest in talking about his parents’ divorce on camera.
“Wait,” Penny said, embarrassed that she hadn’t figured that out sooner. “I’m sorry. Given the circumstances, asking that kind of question isn’t really —”
“No, no, it’s fine,” he said. “I don’t mind you knowing. In fact, I want you to know.”
“But this isn’t the time or place to —”
“Penny, I’ll edit it out,” Eva announced.
Penny blinked. “You will?”
“I’m not here as a reporter. I’m being paid by Mr. Bedford’s publisher to shoot video. What gets shown is up to him.”
“Of course,” Penny said, relieved.
“You guys have good flow,” Eva said. “Keep going.”
Daniel turned to Penny with a grin, his dark eyes alive with feeling. “Hear that? We got flow.”
Penny laughed. “Okay, fine. I’ll stop worrying.”
“Good.”
“If you’re open to sharing more….”
He nodded. “Sure. About my parents. They didn’t get divorced because of anything terrible. They just weren’t a good fit. They were young when they got married —too young. Money was tight, which caused a lot of stress. They argued a lot. I think they stayed together as long as they did because of me.”
“Is that something you understood back then, when you were going through it?”
“No, not at all. For a while there, I felt guilty. I thought the breakup was my fault.”
“Oh, gosh.”
“Their split wasn’t my fault —I know that now —but back then, it weighed on me.”
“That must have been tough.”
He nodded. “I coped by escaping into books.”
“Ah,” she said, nodding. “Books. ”
“All kinds of books. As long as the author had a good voice, I locked in.”
“As W. Somerset Maugham said: ‘To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.’”
Daniel smiled. “Penny Quinn: Quote Machine.”
Penny laughed. “Hardly. Like I said, my mom’s the quote queen. But once in a while, I can remember one.”
Daniel reached for the cart’s handle. “Should we start heading down?”
“Let’s.”
Taking care not to dislodge the tree, he turned the cart around on the path.
“Need me to do anything?” she asked.
