Page 17 of Before We Say Goodbye
Thank God he wasn’t still sixteen. That fact would have made it worse. “I’m seventeen. My name’s Otis Pennington Till.”
“That’s a mouthful of bullshit. Tell me, Otis Pennington Till,” Marshall said, making a brutally awful attempt at a British accent, “how do you plan on taking care of my daughter? You still in high school? Not that I’m taking you or this bit of news seriously, but why not tell me anyway? Who is this man thatwantsto marry my daughter?”
“Leave him alone,” Rebecca insisted.
“Let him answer,” Jed said, stirring the pot.
Otis might have been timid at times, and he was no stranger to turning to stone, but when the roadkill was poked the right way, he proved to be more than alive.
“I’m working hard to find out what it is that I’m going to do with the rest of my life. I’m a freshman at Berkeley, a journalism major, and—”
“Well, at least you’re not an idiot.”
Otis didn’t flinch. “You don’t need to question whether I’ll take care of your daughter.”
“You’re being serious right now? Both of you?” He whipped his head to Rebecca. “You’re not marrying him.”
“We’re not here asking for permission,” Rebecca said. “We’re informing you that we’re getting married. This isn’t a childish decision. We met for a reason, and we’re meant to be together. Once you get to know him, if you can open your ashtray of a heart to let him in, you’ll see that I’m the luckiest girl in the world.”
As angry as Otis was, he felt a big wave of warmth come over him.
Marshall directed his fury at his wife. “Olivia, you have nothing to say? You’re not actually okay with this, are you?”
“What are you going to do, Marshall? Forbid it? Let her go again? She’s eighteen. She can do whatever she likes. For the record, you asked me to marry you when we were eighteen.”
That shut Marshall up for a second.
“And look at you now!” Jed said, swiping the air with his fist.
Marshall gathered his troops and finally came up with a retort. “We didn’t get married for ten more years. Why not go ahead and get a divorce, because we know it won’t last? All you youngsters think love is this giddy wave of fun. It’s not.”
“We didn’t notice,” Jed said.
Marshall looked like he was about to stand up and wring Jed’s neck like a rooster that wouldn’t shut up. “Jed, I will roll you out the front door if you continue your antics.”
“Come on and do it, Marshall. Wouldn’t be the first time you’ve kicked me out of the house.”
“Donotcall me Marshall.”
“ButDadseems so sweet and innocent. It doesn’t quite capture your Hitler-esque leadership.”
Marshall’s jaw tightened. “Otis, why don’t you hit the road? We need some alone time.”
Otis looked at Bec, who nodded her assent, then said, “Why don’t you take the car and go find a bite to eat?”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
Otis stood and touched her shoulder for all to see, then kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll be back in two hours, okay?”
She patted his hand. “It’ll be fine here.”
No one said another word as he left. A part of him—the brave shred that dwelled within him—didn’t want to leave her. He’d just found out that her father had pushed her. He should have left with a threat.You touch her again and I’ll rip your bloody head off.Alas, Otis didn’t have it in him, and instead, he let shame chase him out the door.
Chapter 5
Wine Country
