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“Penny, you didn’t do anything wrong. Nothing at all.”
Her teeth dig into her bottom lip. “You’re breaking up with me?” Her delicate voice pitches with what can only be described as complete shock and despair. “You can’t do that… We’re supposed to be together forever… We’re sup—”
My stomach fills with dread and plummets like a boulder in a murky lake. Oh, God. Kelley and Mikey are right. How did this go so wrong? How was I so blind?
“Whoa, Penny, we’re only friends. You’re just a little kid.”
Reaching up, she knocks her hat off to clutch her head in her hands, yanking her hair. “I don’t know why I said that,” she sobs, clenching her eyes shut. “I don’t understand. Why are you doing this to us? I’m so confused!”
“Penny, please don’t cry.” I stare at her as she sobs, feeling like I’m drowning in her tears. I’ve dived into completely uncharted territory. I have no experience with emotional children, let alone heartbroken girls.
“I’m not a little kid,” she protests under her breath. “I’m not.” When she opens her eyes, they're filled with near-feral desperation. “Why can’t you see that?”
“You’re right,” I say quickly. “I shouldn’t have said that. You’re almost a teenager.”
“What’s happening?” she whispers, taking gulps of air and shaking her head back and forth repeatedly. “This isn’t supposed to happen. Why is this happening?”
Cherry grabs an old ball from the yard and parks herself between us. Whimpering, she nudges Penny’s hand and then mine. After a few seconds of being ignored, she barks at me like she’s trying to tell me to stop this.
I almost take the dog’s advice because the shock in Penny’s eyes, the way she’s shaking her head, and how her entire body is trembling is scaring me. This was a mistake—I should have done this through her mother. Not alone with her at the edge of the woods. I knew she’d be upset, but I didn’t expect her to be so devastated and confused.
“Shh…” I stroke Cherry’s head to calm her, but as I do, a carnal ache to pull Penny into my arms comes over me—so strong that it sucks the breath from my lungs. “I’m sorry, Penny,” I force out, refusing to let myself console her with anything more than words. “I just think it’s best if we both spend time with friends our own age. I’m a lot older than you.”
She wipes her hand across her teary, freckled cheeks. “I don’t care about that,” she says with exasperation.
“I know…” I don’t give a shit, either. “But it’s just not right.”
She searches my face with wild, sorrow-filled eyes. “But why?”
My heart doesn’t know or believe any possible answer, so my brain takes the wheel. “It’s just the way it is. And…I have a lot of work to do. I just got two new big commissions.”
“I can help you.” Her voice lifts with hope in the midst of her sobs. “I’m good at helping you. I can be more quiet.”
She has always helped me. I tell her that all the time. My mind spins like a carousel, grasping for any other valid reason, anything to lessen the blow for her so she’ll stop crying because it’s shredding my soul to pieces.
I’m going to strangle Kelley and Mikey.
I look out at the path in the woods behind her, worn down from her countless trips back and forth. “The thing is, I also met someone, so I won’t have a lot of time. She might be here a lot, so it wouldn’t be cool for you to be hanging around.”
Her thin jawline tightens. Her eyes narrow. “That’s a lie.”
Ugh. She knows me too well. “No, it’s not.”
“Yes,” she says with determination. “It is. Why are you lying to me?”
“Penny, please. I don’t want to see you cry. I care about you. But I think you need to be with friends your own age, and so do I. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. It’s not up for debate.” My foster mother used to end almost every conversation with that line.
Penny sniffles. “So, that’s it? What about us? What about Cherry? Everything is just…over?”
I witness all the light, glitter, and adoration disappear from her eyes. Totally snuffed out, replaced with the same vacant stare that still haunts my memories and chills me right down to my bones. Brianna’s death stare. I feel like a murderer.
“You promised,” she says, new tears dripping down her cheeks. “You promised you’d be here with me forever. We promised eternity.”
I nod slowly. “I know. I’m so sorry, little darlin’. Sometimes promises, they can’t be forever.”
Her huge green eyes stare at me. Unblinking. Suspended with pure disbelief.
“But that’s what promises are.”
I have no words. She’s right.
“You lied,” she chokes, then yanks the little ruby heart ring off her finger. The twisted wire digs into her, and a tiny trail of blood erupts from her flesh. She throws the ring at me, and it tumbles into the leaves and moss at my feet.
