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“Paige calm down,” Joel said trying to ease the tension. “Your family just wants to spend some time with you…and that family includes everyone here. They want to thank you and your friends for helping get everyone home safely and for figuring out how it happened in the first place.”
“So instead ofaskinglike normal people they steal my stuff and I’m supposed to be happy about it? Sorry to burst your bubble but I can’t stay. I have a life in Maine that I need to get back to so if you all want to thank me for getting everyone home safely get me my stuff and let me get back to my life.”
“Paige why are you so insistent on getting back there now?” Cord asked.
“Yeah Sis, you’ve been here for a little over two days now…what’s the rush to get back?” Sam added.
“It’s none of your business why I need or want to get back. The simple matter is that I do, so get me my bags and get out of my way,” she said crossing her arms across her chest.
“Joel, can’t you talk some sense into her?” Sam inquired turning to his friend. “You were the only one who ever could around here.”
“I’m pretty sure this one’s out of my hands,” he stated meeting her gaze and seeing the determination there. “I think we all need to simply thank her and let her go, after all she obviously doesn’t think of this place as home anymore.”
“No, I don’t,” she agreed. “Sorry if it hurts Dad but it’s true. You didn’t want me anywhere near the mine so I left and found something else, something you couldn’t control and now I’ve found something in Maine that needs my attention which is why I’m going back there…today.”
“Good lord Paige you’re more stubborn than your mother was,” Cord sighed. “What is there that could be so important that you need to rush back to immediately? Spend the day with us, get a good night’s rest and see what tomorrow holds.”
“For the millionth time…I am leaving today.”
“Self-centered brat like always, aren’t you Paige?” Sam said narrowing his eyes at her. “When things don’t go your way, you run. You left because Dad told you that no matter what career you choose, you’d never work for the company, and in doing that, you ran out on everyone here including Joel. Then when your best friend and I get married, you have this mysterious emergency at the last second that keeps you away and hell you only went to see Dad after his heart attack because he was in Boston at the time. Your cards, letters, and phone calls started coming fewer and fewer in between until you stopped talking to pretty much everyone. Did you even bother to open the email that told you Kendra and I were having a baby? Or were you too wrapped up in your own selfish self to care about anyone else?”
“Don’t youdareSamuel Joshua Brighton. You don’t know the half of it so don’t stand there and lecture me about leaving…if you want to know why I left there’re two people here who know that truth and one of them is the guy you say I left but guess what everyone…we were never together. At least not officially, were we Joel? No, so you can spout off all you want but when it comes right down to it you don’t know anything Sam. As far as not talking to you and Kendra…again there’re two people who know the reason why, so why don’t you ask your wife about that one. Now since you’ve decided to turn this entire thing into me being selfish, I might as well live up to it, shouldn’t I? Don’t bother calling me if things here are hitting the fan Neal…Iwon’tcome,” she stated stalking away.
“Paige Elizabeth Brighton stop right there,” her father said sternly. “I will not watch you walk away from this family again.”
“Then don’t watch Dad, because that’s exactly what I’m doing. I have to be in Maine this weekend and I’d prefer to sleep in my own bed before it,” she told him as she turned back towards the group.
“Again what is so important that you can’t spend a day with your family?” he questioned.
“This isn’t my family anymore despite what I’ve portrayed the last few days. Yes, the part of me that was the girl who grew up here still cares for you all and doesn’t want to see anything horrible happen to you but she’s not me anymore. I did what you never thought I’d do Dad…I grew up and discovered I’d grown away from here. This place…it sucks the life out of you, it did to Mom, Grandma, and Granddad…and to be honest it was sucking the life out of me until I was forced to choose a different path. I don’t belong here.”
“That is the biggest load of crock and bull I’ve heard come out of your mouth the entire time I’ve known you Paige,” Jesse stated crossing the distance between them. “You don’t believe one single bit of what you just said, and we all know it. We worked with you for five years Paige, we saw your brilliance, saw your pain when things didn’t go right, but never once did we see you give up.”
“Jesse’s right Paige, even when we got to that scene in Granit and we all thought it was hopeless, you didn’t and because of you we saved a hundred lives from the rubble,” Hillary added.
“So what?” Paige shrugged. “It doesn’t mean anything anymore. I left that world four years ago and never looked back. After all, my sanity was brought into question as it has been several times since I’ve been here. Maybe I just got tired of people calling me a loony and decided to simply disappear.”
“Paige Brighton doesn’t run from anything,” Moose countered.
“Nope she runs straight to it,” Rabbit added.
“Precisely what I’m doing now,” she stated.
“So, what are you running to?” Cord inquired.
“Nothing anyone here would understand,” she answered.
“Try us,” Sam said.
“Fine…I have to be in Maine this weekend, preferably tonight, so I can sleep peacefully and get some things caught up on because I’ve got big plans for Saturday.”
“What sort of plans?” Joel asked.
“None that concern you,” she told him.
“Why not?”
“Because you’re not part of my life,” she said as he took a step towards her.
