Page 110 of Within These County Lines

“You can thank me by stepping aside.” She nods toward the bucket. “You’re blocking people’s access to my bucket.”

I jump over her earnings with a laugh. Then I raise a finger. “Wait. Did you send the letter from your dad’s email? I can’t believe the counselor didn’t suspect anything.”

She smirks. “Yeah. He uses the same password for all his log-ins. He’s not hard to hack. I’ve been eyeing his bank account too. Just in case.” She winks.

“What did he think of your research? Did it help fix things a little?”

She lowers her chin. “It did nothing.”

“Really?”

She shrugs, shifting her clarinet to her other hand. “I mean, I didn’t think it was going to magically fix our relationship. I just wanted to show off a bit.” She holds out her phone. “But he was beyond unimpressed.”

I take her phone and read:

Dad: Whitly. Thanks for sending thiss. Your paper looks

okay. I found an old researchj paper of mine that received

a lot of praise. I jst emailad it to you for reviewe.

Whitley: Okay

Dad: Youy should take a look at the research methodas

section in my papper. Perhaps you could incorporater some

of the theories from there iinto your work to make it better.

Whitley: I sent my paper to you because it was finished.

Dad: I think it’s a good first draftt. Let me know if you

want me to provide editds.

“Ouch,” I say with a grimace, handing back her phone. “Why are there so many typos? Was he—”

“Drunk,” she says. “Yeah, probably.”

I hang my head. “I’m sorry, Whitley.”

She smiles. “You don’t have anything to worry about. I actually like the response.”

I blink. “Really?”

She exhales. “Yeah. I mean, if he’d been nice, what was I supposed to do then? Have him in my life?” Her arms hang at her sides. “I’ve basically made it through half my life without him. This just proves that’s how it’s meant to be.”

“You’re sure?”

She turns back to me, eyes sharp. “Bennie is worth seeking revenge. You’re worth a lie. My dad is not. See how it works? You have to drop some weight to make it out of Penango.”

I nod slowly.

“When you reach out to people and they don’t respond, that’s their response. Life really isn’t all that complicated.”

I see it playing out, but I’m not sure I understand why life works the way it does.

Some people are meant to be in our lives for brief moments, others forever. But time doesn’t always equal impact. Some creeks run shallow for decades, trickling along the banks, steady but insignificant. Others rage after a storm, rushing in for a day, shifting shorelines, uprooting trees, flooding everything in their wakes, then they vanish.