AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You stay safe now, okay, sheriff? Okay! Thank you! Bye now!”
The trailer doorthunkedclosed, and then there was nothing other than the soft padding of Dean’s footsteps walking away. I hadn’t even said goodbye but somehow, I didn’t think he deserved a goodbye. Not after keeping such a huge fact from me—from all of us. I mean, he knew I had a daughter—how hard would it have been to say:‘gee, I’ve got a daughter too!’
“Normally, I’d have something to say about you basically ejecting a dinner guest from our house,” I started.
Sicily frowned at me as she plopped both hands on her hips. “But this time?”
“This time I’m going to say ‘thank you’ instead.”
I’d stopped washing dishes. My hands, splayed on either side of the sink, were gripping the countertop hard enough to leave marks. My head was bowed. I felt like I was going to be sick, but I had no idea why.
The cool hand of my daughter pressed against my lower back.
“Why don’t we take a walk?”
Somehow, I managed a laugh. “Isn’t that my line?”
“It is,” she said, guiding me gently away from the kitchen. “WhenI’mthe one that’s upset.”
I wanted to argue with her. Instead, I let Sicily lead the way towards the front door and into the darkness of the night.
Surprisingly, our part of the trailer park was empty. Usually, the nocturnal folks of our community would just be starting their day, but for whatever reason, the night was quiet and empty, which left Sicily and me plenty of space to wander through the quiet, backwoods mountains.
I walked with my arms folded, eyes angled just high enough so I could make sure Sicily’s bad night vision wouldn’t make her bump into anything. It was comforting to be in the dark. Probably had something to do with my new biology, being a woman of the night in the most literal sense, but it was one of the changes I’d fully embraced over the past year. I felt like I could think clearer in the dark, where my head was less distracted by the bright and energetic daytime. Soon after we started wandering, I could sense my feelings starting to settle inside my head.
Sicily seemed to notice, as well, because it was then that she angled her head in my direction, the messy brown bun falling into her face. “So. That was a bombshell, huh?”
“It was.”
My lips pursed. She kicked a rock out in front of us and continued. “He never told you?”
“Sure didn’t.”
“Damn.” She sighed. “You’re… pretty hurt by that, huh?”
“Hurt? No.” Instantly, I regretted saying that. I felt like a moody teenager unwilling to share her feelings with her parents, which only amplified the odd feeling of being consoled by my own kid. “I mean… he doesn’t owe me anything.”
“Owing you something and telling you he has a daughter are two different things.”
“Then you think he should have told me?” I asked as I looked over at her.
She cocked her head to the side. “Unless he has a very good reason why he didn’t, I guess.”
I nodded, because I couldn’t imagine what that very good reason could be. “I just… feel like I welcomed… likewe allwelcomed him into our lives and our town and we opened up to him and he… he knows everything there is to know about me.”
“Well, that’s not true, Mama,” Sicily said with a smile.
“Okay, he knows a hell of a lot more about me than I know about him. And tonight, that’s never been more obvious.”
“Maybe ask him why he didn’t tell you?”
But I shook my head. “Dean and I aren’t anything to each other anymore. He doesn’t owe me anything—not explanations—nothing. We were high school sweethearts a lifetime ago and then we split up and he lived his own life, and so did I.”
Sicily’s brow bent, mouth screwing up into a knot. “Yet you’re still angry?”
I shook my head without hesitation. “I’m not angry.”
“And you’re not hurt,” Sicily paused.
